Chained
by ashenbisexual
Summary: The stakes are higher than ever. The fate of the entire galaxy is on John and Tawny's shoulders. All they can do is take it day-by-day, and hope luck is on their side. Of course, John always was the lucky one. (Image isn't mine) (Third book in the Chipped series)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

It was tense on the ship. I couldn't count how many nervous soldiers Blue Team and I ran past on our way to the bridge.

We were aboard the UNSC _Forward Unto Dawn_ of the Seventh Fleet, headed for what was sure to be a dangerous fight with a massive Covenant fleet.

The door slid opened for us. We were greeted by a short African woman with close-shaven hair. "Blue Team, good."

She looked up at me. Her eyes narrowed.

"You're not a SPARTAN," she said in an almost-accusing tone.

I shook my head. "No, I'm Tawny Clark, ma'am."

"Ah." That explanation soothed her a bit. "Commander April Orenski of the _Forward Unto Dawn_. You'd better buckle in, cuz we're about to follow that fleet."

She was referencing the massive Covenant fleet that had appeared over Earth, of course. They were all moving through a slipspace portal that would take them to the Ark.

From there, they could activate every the entire Halo Array and destroy sentient life all over the galaxy.

Commander Orenski turned to face the viewport as we drew ever closer to the portal. Her hands were clasped behind her back and her shoulders were taught.

She glanced up at the SPARTANs beside her. "It's good to see you again Chief, Kelly."

"Likewise, ma'am."

"And Fred."

He nodded.

So they'd met before. Most of them, anyway.

When she remembered their previous encounter, it brought echoes of terror. Confusion. Loss.

What had she been through?

She wasn't very old; around John's age. She couldn't have been older than 25.

I had bigger things to worry about.

The ship ahead of us, the UNSC _Aegis Fate_, disappeared into the portal. We were next.

We touched the portal.

Everything went black for a moment, before we re-emerged over a massive, flower-shaped world. My breath escaped my body; it was gorgeous. The ring worlds were breathtaking, but this was on an entirely separate level.

"Where are we?" the Commander asked.

The shipboard AI, Hogun, pulled up a map of the galaxy. We were highlighted in a red square beyond the edge.

"We're not within our galaxy anymore, Commander," Hogun said.

There was an explosion behind us. So massive that the entire ship tremored.

The Commander turned. "LT, status!"

"That was the _Chioglossa_, ma'am."

"Damn." Her lips pursed in bitter grief. "It's just us and the _Fate_ now. Reinforcements are at least three hours from Earth."

"What are we going to do?" I looked down at her.

"Blue Team is going to clear us an LZ," she decided. "I'm sending you with a company of marines under Sergeant Major Johnson. Get down to Hangar B. Dismissed."

They saluted before walking out of the bridge.

The hallway was full of soldiers. Every one moved with purpose and, almost, desperation. For good reason.

The Covenant had _been_ on Earth for months, distracting us from their excavation project a scarce several miles from New Mombasa.

The Covenant, who wanted us dead, had successfully snuck a massive task force onto the surface of Earth, our home planet, and unearthed a massive Forerunner artifact. And the entire time we had been dumb to their efforts.

But I was nervous about more than that. The Domain was weak here, so far from our galaxy, but it was drawing itself up to warn me about..._something_.

I moved next to John, glancing up at him. "Something big is going to happen."

He nodded once; he could feel it too. "Do you have any idea what it is?"

"No." I shook my head. "But i- but it's big."

We emerged into the hangar. The full Pelicans, loaded with marines chomping at the bit to get down and fight, were hard to miss.

So was the loud Sergeant Major beside them. "You sure took your time, Chief. Come on, men, we're moving out!"

Blue Team split up, with Kelly and Fred on the first Pelican. Linda took the second one, and John and I climbed into the third and final Pelican.

Johnson walked in after us and made his way into the cockpit.

"Truth's ship isn't taking part in the attack," Commander Orenski noted. "So he must be on the ground."

The marines sitting in the Pelican stared at John. They didn't like him, personally, but they were glad he was here. They would be fools to turn away the massive tactical advantage that was a SPARTAN, and they knew it.

Everything jerked when we dropped down out of the ship.

It jolted me nearly off of my feet. I grabbed John's arm for support. He returned the grip, his hand wrapping around my left arm just below the elbow.

"Now I know why no one else is standing." I grabbed a handle.

"You can magnetize your boots to the floor."

"Oh, right." I glanced down at my feet.

Sure enough, when I skimmed through the suit's functions, there was an option to magnetize them.

I activated it, experimentally trying to lift my foot off of the Pelican's floor. I could, but it was difficult. I felt an option to increase or decrease the magnets' strength.

As we came even closer to the ground John reached above a marine's head, pulling down a rifle.

He shoved a mag in and faced the ramp just as it lowered.

I walked up behind him, gazing down at the endless white sand. Off in the distance was a mountain range that cupped the open desert.

"It's beautiful," I breathed.

"Get ready to move, marines!" Johnson sounded eager to get out and fight. "Priority one; secure a Landing Zone for the Commander's frigate. Keep your eyes and ears open. We need all the intel we can get."

The Pelican hovered over a rocky outcrop.

"Go, go, go!" Johnson cried.

John was the first one out.

I landed beside him as marines piled out. The other Pelicans unloaded their men and the rest of Blue Team.

We ran underneath a stone archway. Blue Team was first, and I was actually able to keep up with them. They were keeping themselves at a speed the marines could keep up with, and in my suit I found that speed perfect.

I was constantly feeling about for other sentient beings. After being snuck up on, and kidnapped, on Installation 05, I made a habit to be aware of who was near me.

There were Covenant forces ahead.

"They're right around the corner," I warned through the Company's comm channel.

John nodded in acknowledgement.

We rounded the corner and the SPARTANs sprang into action, shooting through Sangheili and Brutes and all other manner of alien.

I lifted a Kig-Yar up into the air before he could shoot Linda. A marine saw the easy target and riddled the creature with bullets.

I let the body drop, sending out a massive pulse. Three Brutes were shoved over the edge of the cliff, undoubtedly to their deaths. I couldn't find it in myself to feel bad for them for more than a brief moment.

An Unggoy threw a grenade at Fred, who'd run out to engage a Sangheili in hand-to-hand.

I encased the explosive in a bubble of ultrasound, throwing it over the edge of the cliff. I heard it explode far below us.

We finished off the Covenant soldiers quickly enough. But this was only one group, and we had many others to eliminate before we could call the job complete.

So we pressed on.

The pathway was narrow, but the marines were happy to let us take the lead.

I was just behind John, reaching out ahead of us.

There was another Covenant outpost just ahead. As we watched, hidden behind the boulders, a Phantom brought forth an orange piece of metal. It attached it to what looked like a Scarab.

"They're assembling an AA battery," Linda murmured.

"That thing'll tear the _Dawn_ apart," one marine whispered harshly.

"Linda," John turned to face her, "take out as many targets as you can."

"Affirmative." She pulled out her rifle, taking careful aim. Three soldiers fell before they even knew they were being fired on.

John held his hand out to a marine. "I need a grenade."

Before I could ask what he was planning, he turned to face us.

"Blue Team, cover me," he ordered.

I bit back a protest as he made a break for the Covenant camp.

If I said something now I might distract him. Then he really _would_ die.

I watched with no small degree of fear as he ran through the camp, avoiding enemy fire, and climbed the leg of the AA emplacement. Fred, Kelly, and Linda laid down heavy cover fire. Within less than a minute, every single Covenant soldier was dead.

That didn't mean John was safe. He stuck the grenade to the belly of the gun and dropped, running towards us like a bat out of hell.

He wasn't going to make it in time.

My heart in my throat, I surrounded the anti aircraft gun in a dome of ultrasonic waves. The air around it rippled.

The explosion was jarring. My body seized as I struggled to contain it. I groaned heavily, forcing myself to keep my hold on the explosion for just a few moments more.

John skidded to a halt beside us and I relinquished control, sagging heavily. "Oh, thank god."

The explosion had mostly died by the time I let go, and it was safe to pick our way down the incline that the path brought us to.

We made our way to a passageway _through_ the cliffside. It would lead us to the other side of the mountain.

"You'd better hurry, Chief, the _Dawn_ can't take much more of this. Find a place to put us down."

John didn't respond to the Commander, but I could feel his resolve strengthen even more. He was going to get this done no matter what.

Which was good, because I could sense someone invisible creeping up behind us in the tunnel.

The Arbiter.

I knew he was sent to kill us. He wouldn't leave this battlefield unless he died, or he had killed us.

We needed him, though. The Domain told us he would be the one to disassemble the Covenant.

He couldn't die. And I didn't want us to die, either.

I knew what I had to do.

"John."

He turned his head to face me.

"Promise me, no matter what, you're going to finish this fight."

He nodded. I could feel his uncertainty; he didn't know where I was going with this.

"Good. And, please keep my helmet safe."

I pulled it off and handed it to him. I was terrified, a bit nauseous, but determined. The Domain wasn't warning me, no, it was bolstering me.

This was what I had to do.

The Arbiter wouldn't leave unless he had a reason, and capturing me was a pretty good reason.

I broke off from the group, pretending my ankle was bothering me. I rolled it once, hearing the symphony of cracks through the armor. It didn't hurt - my ankle just did that, thanks to my EDS - but it would certainly sound painful.

I played it up, leaning heavily against a rock. Surrounding myself in a bubble of ultrasound, I floated myself atop the boulder and pulled my right ankle up onto my lap.

I looked down at it studiously, hopefully looking dumb to my surroundings.

The group moved out of sight. John was most displeased about it, but he could feel the Domain just the same as me. He knew, whatever I was doing, it was the right thing.

The Arbiter crept closer. Silently approaching from a mere five feet.

I rolled my ankle again, playing up a wince as it cracked.

Something hit my left jaw, hard. My vision went black and I slumped into an invisible arm.

**oOOOo**

It was dark aboard the ship. But I wasn't in the brig.

That was hardly a comfort. My entire body was sore from being still for so long; my suit had frozen without my mind in its systems. It had only just loosened up, because I was awake. And my stomach...

I was _starving_. My stomach felt like there was a pit where it was supposed to be. And there was some desperate, clawed beast ripping at the edges of the pit.

I curled in on myself with a moan. But I couldn't comfort myself; my hands were bound behind my back by unforgiving metal shackles.

Then I remembered myself. My situation. I straightened up on my knees and looked around.

I was in a crowded, busy room. There were two Sangheili; the Arbiter and a tall one with white armor. Two of his mandibles were missing, on the left side.

I was in the bridge of the ship.

"It seems our captive has awaken," the battle scarred Sangheili said.

He was so _big_. I was distinctly aware of my hands, cuffed behind my back. I was absolutely weak and at the whims of this massive warrior.

"Will you now use your powers, human?"

I glanced around. There were lenses on me. They were still trying to figure me out.

I couldn't be afraid of that anymore.

I slipped lightly into the white-armored soldier's mind. Rtas 'Vadumee, a very high-ranking Covenant commander. A Shipmaster, in fact.

He was important in all of this. The Domain didn't tell me how, only that he was.

He stood, looking to the Arbiter who was behind me. "I will go with you to present her to the Prophet of Truth."

"Of course, Shipmaster." The Arbiter bowed his head.

I felt a hand on my wrists, tugging me up. I said nothing, not even when the action strained my arms, and walked where he led me.

I had to find a way to show them the truth about their Great Journey.

Would they believe me? Even if I spoke directly into their minds, they could always dismiss it as a trick.

Their beliefs were strong, I could feel. Ingrained in their minds since childhood. Their beliefs were so much a part of them...they were more indoctrinated than even the SPARTAN IIs were to the UNSC.

I needed something else. Some proof, to show them that the Great Journey was horrible and false.

"_The Prophet will be his own undoing."_

My head shot up.

There, just around the corner, was a floating being. An Engineer. He'd spoken directly into my mind.

I nodded to him before dropping my head again.

The Sangheili were silent behind me, the Arbiter's grip on my wrists unforgiving.

We loaded into a Phantom. I was sat in the floor, with a pair of Sangheilis' guns trained on me.

I glared up at them, knowing I could take them out if I needed to.

It was a quick journey to the surface.

Wherever we were, it hummed with ancient energy. The Domain was weak here, but the Forerunner presence strong. It was like a hypnotic melody that drew me in.

"Move, human." The Arbiter shoved me forward.

I bit back a wince, keeping my head down as we walked through a massive building.

I glanced back at them. "Can't you tell the Prophet is lying? There _is_ no Great Journey, you're going to kill us all!"

"Silence! I will not listen to this heresy." Rtas 'Vadumee's voice was hard.

We walked into a large, round room. The Prophet of Truth was there, surrounded by his Honor Guard.

They were all Brutes. This filled both Sangheili with a righteous fury, I noticed, though neither of them gave the slightest hint to their indignation.

The Prophet, a massive being in a floating chair, turned to face us.

The Arbiter shoved me down to my knees in front of him.

"What have we here?" Truth looked down on me with a predatory look in his eyes.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Here's Chapter One of the third book! This book is my favorite by far! I hope you guys enjoy it!**

**And as always, I love you guys! :)**

**(Edited for clarity and grammar 4/29/2020)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

I snarled up at the Prophet of Truth. His haughty, predatory gaze pissed me off as much as it terrified me.

The Arbiter cuffed the back of my head, and my vision went black around the edges.

"This is the human with the strange abilities, noble Prophet," he said.

"Ah, the one who escaped from 'Mdamaee." Truth folded his long, bony fingers together. "What a shame his last memory was of failure."

"You're about to suffer the same fate," I growled up at him.

The Arbiter hit the back of my head again. I felt myself grow dizzy.

"We wanted to present her to you, Prophet."

"Yes, I am most pleased with her capture. You have done well, Arbiter."

My mind was racing. The Engineer had said he would be his own undoing. How?

I dove into the Prophet's mind, hoping to find answers there. He had no idea I was even there, of course. No one ever did unless I wanted them to.

Let's see, I had to find something that would piss the Sangheili off. There was something floating near the top of his mind.

A plan. A plan to sow seeds of chaos in the Sangheili race. Destabilize them, weaken them, get them back firmly under his boot.

He was going to assassinate the Sangheili High Council.

I came back into my mind, looking up at the Prophet. He played the facade of a noble leader so well. I would have been fooled, had I not just been inside his treacherous mind.

He looked down at me for a moment. "Take her back to your ship, Shipmaster. When the time comes, she shall be the one to start our Great Journey."

So he was planning to use me to activate the Halo Array. He knew it took a human.

I wouldn't do it.

The Arbiter pushed me back down the hallway.

I tugged fruitlessly against him. "He's lying to you, there isn't a Great Journey. The Halo Array was made to kill off the Flood's food; us!"

"If I have to silence you one more time, it will be a permanent method," Rtas growled.

My heart was beating out of my chest. He really could keep me silent. He could rip out my tongue, or break my jaw, or even kill me.

But if he didn't listen to me, I would die anyways. And so would everyone else.

So I waited.

I waited until we were aboard the ship again.

Then, when we were in an empty hallway, I invaded their minds. They still had their own free will, but they couldn't move.

The Arbiter uncuffed me, much to his displeasure.

I pulled away from him, turning to face the massive Sangheili. "Listen to me, okay? Truth is- he's going to assassinate the Sangheili High Council members. He wants t-to make you guys even weaker."

Outrage. I couldn't tell if they were angry at me for slandering the Prophet, or if they were angry at the Prophet. Maybe a bit of both.

Nope, they were mad at me.

They didn't believe me. They were fighting against my hold, and their willpower was strong.

There was an Engineer, poking his head around the hallway. He was sending me something...something that would damn the Prophet of Truth.

"Fine. You don't believe me? Explain this." I pulled up a hologram in the projector in the palm of my hand.

It was a comm from the Prophet to High Charity.

"We will leave the Sangheili behind us in the Great Journey," Truth said, alight in blue. "They have proven their inability, and godlike power is not theirs to hold. Plant the seeds of dissent, Tartarus, and be rid of their High Councilmen."

I dropped my hand. "Do you believe me now?"

They didn't want to believe me. But they wouldn't attack me now, at least.

I let go of them.

"Rtas, Arbiter, we _have_ to stop him. E-even if you guys come out of this still believing in the Great Journey, we have to at least work together for now."

"To go against the Prophet is heresy." Rtas shook his head. "We cannot disobey him."

"Well...well, he's disobeying your gods. They don't _want_ Halo to fire again."

"You have spoken with the gods?" The Arbiter looked down at me.

"Y-yeah, the Librarian. She-she's the one who gave me my powers." I met their eyes fiercely. "And she's the one who wants me to stop Truth from firing the Halo Array."

"Can you prove this, human?"

I looked up at Rtas and back down. "I- yeah, maybe. B-but I can't do it here."

"Follow me." Rtas led us down another hallway.

We passed the Engineer, and though they paid him no mind I nodded to him. He returned the gesture.

We were in a large room with an alien holotable.

"Prove that you speak with the gods, human." Rtas turned to face me.

It was hard not to shrink under his intense gaze.

"Yeah, I-I'll need a minute. Just trust me," I assured them.

I sat with my back against the wall, closing my eyes. The Domain was easy to slip into, even beyond the edges of the galaxy.

I formed, immediately turning on my heel. "Warden, where's First-Light?"

"Wandering the halls of the Domain." He was behind me, where I'd originally been facing.

"I need to see her."

"Of course." He inclined his head.

She was there, next to Warden. "Reviver."

"First-Light, thank god. I-I need you to talk to-"

"Thel 'Vadamee and Rtas 'Vadumee, yes. Call them to the Domain, and I will show them the truth."

"Great. Thank you so much."

She nodded once. "Of course, Reviver."

I closed my eyes, focusing on the two Sangheili. It was harder to call them in, since I didn't know them as well as I knew John, but it was doable.

They appeared in front of me.

"Human, where have you brought us?" The Arbiter looked around.

I looked up at them, and then glanced behind him. First-Light nodded to me.

"I brought you two into the Domain," I finally said. "Thel, Rtas, meet First-Light-Weaves-Living-Song."

They turned and immediately fell to their knees. Bowed on the floor, Thel spoke for both of them. "We are not worthy to be in your presence."

"You are no more worthy than the Reviver, and you are no less worthy than her." Despite the Librarian's words, she held herself above them with a distinct and elevated air. "I am no goddess, and Halo is no enlightenment. Your Prophets speak lies that will cost the galaxy everything."

Rtas looked up at her. His jaw was whole in the Domain, I noticed. "But the Great Journey-"

"Is a lie. A fabrication, created by the first Prophets of the Covenant." First-Light swept her hand, as if brushing away the long-standing lies of the Prophets. "The Halo Array was created as a last resort, to be used in a time of desperation that the galaxy has not yet reached. You may yet defeat the Flood without use of the rings, and we are hoping you will."

"Tawny."

I turned and felt my heart flutter. John was standing there.

"John!" I ran towards him, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Are you okay?"

"What happened? You went missing."

I turned to look over my shoulder. "I-I let the Arbiter capture me. I think the Sangheili are about to be our new allies."

He gazed at the Sangheili with distrust. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "They're listening to First-Light. They believe her."

He pressed his forehead to mine. "Please be safe."

"I will, John. I promise."

"Revivers," First-Light spoke to us.

"Yeah?" I looked over my shoulder.

"It is time to rid the galaxy of the Prophet of Truth."

I felt myself fading from the Domain. So was John.

I grabbed his hands. "I love you, John."

"I love you-"

My eyes opened within the ship.

Thel stood, shaking his head to dispel his dizziness. "We must warn the Sangheili of the Prophets' betrayal."

I raised a hand. "I can broadcast Truth's comm to-to your fleet."

Rtas nodded. "Do it."

I walked up to the holotable, my mind branching into it. I took the comm from my suit, sending it into the table. From there it was simple to send it to every ship in Rtas' fleet and have it play on every available projector and holotable.

I remained in the systems to make sure it played through in its entirety.

Then I opened my eyes and turned to Rtas. "There. If you have anything you want to say to your men, I'd say it now."

He nodded and stepped into view of the holotable.

"Warriors of Sanghelios, the Prophet of Truth has betrayed us," he announced in a saddened voice. "Not only has he ordered the murder of our High Councilmen, his kind has entirely fabricated the Great Journey."

He paced a bit in front of the holotable. His tiny copy on top of said table mimicked him.

He continued, "I have spoken with the gods, and they have told me the truth; the sacred rings are a weapon, and they will destroy all we hold dear if they are fired."

He kept pacing, his hands behind his back.

"We must rise up against the Prophet and disband his lies once and for all." He halted and brought a tight fist up. "Stand with me now, brothers, and we may live to fight another day. Stand with me, that we may retain our ancient and honored ways."

He cut the transmission.

I glanced between the two Sangheili. "A-and, um, you should probably let the UNSC know we're friends before our reinforcements show up to blast us out of the sky."

"Of course. Arbiter, go with the human to their stronghold on the surface."

Thel nodded. "Let us go, human."

"Tawny."

"Of course." He nodded. "Tawny."

We ran out towards the hangar. Well, he jogged. His legs were so long, I had to run to keep up with him. I barely reached his chest.

My hair was falling out of its bun. As soon as we were in a Phantom, which Thel was piloting, I ripped the hair band out and retied it into a braided bun.

"Human, can you speak with your Demons to ascertain a safe passage?"

My head shot up. "Um...n-not without my helmet. I...I left it with them."

"Come, use the Phantom's comm."

I moved up into the front with him. There was a holographic control panel in front of me, and I couldn't begin to guess what each tiny circle did.

"I have no idea how to work this. I'm going- I'm gonna go directly into the system, okay?"

Thel didn't look very happy about that. "If you must."

I closed my eyes and accessed the ship's comm system. "John? John, can you hear me?"

"Tawny?"

"John, thank god. O-okay, Thel and I are coming in with a Phantom. _Please_, make sure we don't get shot down."

Everything jerked as Thel swerved around a haze of bullets.

"You might want to hurry!" I cried.

He didn't respond. I noticed that we didn't experience any more fire, though.

Thel set the Phantom down next to the _Forward Unto Dawn_, which was sitting at the mouth of a giant canyon. Beyond the front of the frigate was a giant wall that...seemed to be calling to me. There was something Forerunner inside.

I was lowered out of the Phantom's gravity lift. "John!"

"Tawny." He latched his arms around me as I barreled into him. My arms were tight around his waist and my face pressed into the armor of his chest.

"Thanks for keeping them from shooting us," I murmured.

At my words he seemed to remember that Thel was there. He looked up at the Sangheili, distrust prominent in his mind.

I stepped back. "John, this is Thel. Thel, John."

Thel nodded.

"So, where's the rest of Blue Team?" I looked back up at John.

"Inside the _Dawn_ with the Commander. We're trying to locate Truth."

"Oh, that's easy." I grinned. "We were just with him."

The Arbiter nodded. "He is at the control center of this Installation, a citadel along the inner rim. He plans to fire the rings, but he cannot do it without a human."

John seemed to hesitate for a moment. There was a brief internal argument that I could guess at, but didn't intrude into.

After a moment he jerked his head back towards the frigate. "Come on."

I grabbed his hand as we made our way through the ship. He wanted his hands free, just in case Thel attacked, but I couldn't help myself. Letting myself get captured had been terrifying, no matter how much the Domain told me I would be okay.

I was so glad to be back with John.

We walked into the bridge. It was full of activity. In the very center, standing out as a circle of motionless individuals, was the Commander and Blue Team.

"Thel 'Vadamee." Commander Orenski turned, looking up at the Arbiter with narrowed eyes. "You better hope you don't try to stab us in the back, Elite, or we'll make sure your whole kind regrets it."

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: I'm posting this a few hours early lol. We just had a death in the family, so we're preparing to go out of state for the funeral. I'll probably be able to update next week; don't worry.**

**I love you guys! :)**

**(Edited 4/29/2020)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

I'd pulled up a map of the Ark on the holotable, in the center of the bridge, and was pointing to the rim around the center. "That's where Truth is."

"He is inside an energy shield surrounding the control center. We must destroy at least three generators to disable a part of it." The Arbiter was looking over the map with his hands clasped behind his back.

Commander Orenski nodded up at him. "Chief, Tawny, and the Arbiter will take down the first generator. Fred, Kelly, and Linda, you'll take the second. Sergeant Major Johnson will be there with a group of marines at the third one."

Her intense eyes scanned over the holotable.

"Dismissed."

We were off to the Pelicans once more.

I climbed into one with John and the Arbiter.

There was a group of marines sitting inside, muttering about Thel.

I casually placed myself between them. They were right to be wary of him, and even angry at him, but fighting would help no one right now. The Arbiter had done horrible things, but now he was willing to help us.

They could duke it out later.

Kelly had kept my helmet, and she'd slipped it to me just before we split up.

I slid it over my head, looking up at John. "They don't trust Thel."

He gave no outward indication that we were talking. "I don't either."

He was beside Thel, to his left and just behind me.

"You remember what the Domain said. He-he's going to help us take down the Covenant."

"The enemy of our enemy isn't always our friend."

I crossed my arms. "Whatever. I trust him."

Most of the ride passed in silence. In the Pelicans, it would take us most of an hour to reach the control center.

I sat down, leaning against John's legs. My neck strained as I looked up at him. "You're comfy."

"Good to know." He sounded unamused.

"I'm scared."

He didn't say anything, but he did look down at me inquisitively.

"Something bad's going to happen. I...I can feel it."

"I won't let anything hurt you."

"I know." I bit my lip. "Promise you'll keep yourself safe, too."

The Arbiter was watching our conversation with rapt attention. It put John on edge; he'd rather talk silently, over the comms. Having the marines listen in was bad enough.

Nonetheless, he agreed. "I promise."

The ramp lowered. We were in the air, high above an ocean. I could _feel_ the control center; we were close.

I pushed myself up, moving to the back of the Pelican. The ocean was a blur beneath us. When I looked straight down I felt like I was falling towards it.

John was there, his hand on my shoulder. "Careful."

I'd almost fallen out. I was distracted by the Forerunner presence all around me, and weak with raging hunger. Everything was happening so quickly that I'd never had the chance to eat.

I pushed down the jumpy anxiety pounding through my heart. "Sorry."

Thel was thinking hard. Hard enough for me to hear his thoughts without reaching out. "This_ is the human who the Hierarchs labelled as such a threat?"_

I ignored his doubtful emotions. I could handle myself.

The Pelican behind us got shot and rammed into ours on its way down. I screamed and flinched away from it. It was _this close_ to crushing John's hand, where he held the outside edge of the dropship

The pilot's mayday was called over the comms before it crashed into the beach beneath us. "Pelican down! _Pelican down_!"

"Brace yourselves, we're goin' in a little hot!" the pilot of our own Pelican warned us through the comms.

John grabbed a gun from the ammo rack beside him, leaning it on his shoulder.

As soon as the Pelican touched down - shaking all of us - he was out and firing on a collection of Unggoy.

I took a Kig-Yar and threw him into a Hunter, watching the hive-minded mass of worms fall apart. The Hunter's armor put an end to the Kig-Yar's life; a spike was pierced through his body.

I looked up, a few miles away and atop a massive cliff, to the towers. We had to clear the beach so that the Pelicans could safely land. Otherwise we'd have to walk, and that was several miles I'd happily avoid.

The comms were busy, full of soldiers fighting and giving orders. None of them pertained to me, so I tuned it out. Get to the generator, that was all that mattered.

Another Brute charged me. I held my hands out, surrounding him with ultrasound, and snapped his neck. I threw his body into a group of Drones, knocking a large number of them out of the air.

One less Brute to torture innocent people. A self-satisfied smirk tugged at my lips.

The group fought its way up a small incline. When we reached the top, however, we were met with a Covenant tank.

"Take cover!" A marine shoved some of her teammates behind a rock as the tank turned to face us.

"John, throw a grenade!" I cried.

He slid to a halt beside me, behind a boulder. "Grenades won't pierce their armor."

"I know." I peeked my head out to look at the tank. "Just trust me."

It was looming closer. It was massive, easily able to crush us. It wouldn't, since it was floating, but nonetheless that was a fear in the mind of several marines nearby.

John took a grenade from a marine's belt and chucked it at the tank.

I held a hand out and took control of the explosive.

It sailed into the turret, blocking the plasma and causing a massive backfire. I felt the Unggoy inside die hot, but quick, deaths.

We had to keep going, we had to secure the beach.

There were Covenant soldiers pretty much the entire way up the beach.

By the time we destroyed every single anti aircraft emplacement, there were only a few marines left. One of them was injured, his right arm slashed from the elbow down to his wrist. The cut looked deep, and it was bleeding heavily.

He insisted he was okay, but John ordered him to keep away from any combat scenarios, just to be safe.

Not that he needed the order, since we'd eliminated all the Covenant forces on the beach.

"Beachhead secure, Commander," one marine reported.

"Good. Shipmaster, it's time to come through with that diversion." Commander Orenski didn't sound like she trusted Rtas all that much, though I could hardly blame her.

Nonetheless, he seemed eager to exact his own revenge. "I will beat the Prophet's shield like a drum. By the time the barrier falls, he will beg for mercy"

A Pelican came down just in front of us, prepared to take the casualties back and give us a warthog.

John grabbed my arm. "Let's move."

The injured man was assisted up, and the Pelican dropped its warthog. So we were driving up there.

"John, can I drive?" I asked.

He didn't say anything. He was conflicted; if he drove, the Arbiter would take the gunner position. That was behind us, leaving us open to attack. If I drove, either the Arbiter was behind us, or he was right next to me. John hated all of those options.

He hated working with the Arbiter in general.

I sighed, climbing up into the driver's seat. "It'll be _fine_, John. Come on, you can sit next to me."

He didn't like it, I could tell, but he walked around and climbed in beside me. The Arbiter climbed up into the back, taking hold of the gun. I trusted him; he was on our side now. He would have our backs, just like we had his.

I pushed the warthog into first and started moving up the beach. We would have to go up a steep incline to reach the generator, so it was going to be a day for the lower gears.

Less than a mile up, after I'd switched to second, three Ghosts flew out from behind a clump of boulders. There were cliffs on either side, boxing us in.

My hands fell numb and my foot somehow slipped off of the gas. I pushed it back down too quickly. The engine quit, and we halted on the path.

Thankfully, before any of the Ghosts could shoot us down, the Arbiter tore through them with the machine gun.

I glanced back up at him as I started the warthog up again. "Thanks, Thel."

He simply nodded as we resumed our trek up the mountain.

My hands were jumpy; why was I so scared all of a sudden? What was wrong?

It felt like something bad was about to happen.

Sergeant Johnson came over the comm. "Ma'am, we're on the ground. Third tower in sight."

"Good. The SPARTANs have touched down at number two," the Commander informed us.

John glanced at me. "We need to hurry."

"Yeah, I know." I fought down my nerves and pushed us up into third gear.

We reached a more open area, like a bowl with grassy cliffs on all sides, and found ourselves the center of attention. There was a horde of Covenant soldiers.

I shoved down my faint nausea, keeping my eyes ahead. "I'm not stopping!"

I didn't need to. The Arbiter took down the few Ghosts that they had, and John shot as many soldiers as he could. Just like that we were out of the valley, leaving a trail of inhuman blood.

"How are things going over there?" The Commander was only speaking to us three.

"We're almost there, ma'am, I promise." I tried to keep the fear out of my voice. We were late.

The Commander was just as aware of that fact as we were. "You'd better be."

A shaky breath fell from my mouth.

The tower was just ahead.

I skidded the hog, letting Thel take care of the Unggoy just inside the entrance.

John commed the Commander. "We're going in."

He took point as we made our way into the base of the tower.

To my relief we made it through several rooms without encountering any Covenant troops. That _didn't_ mean I wasn't on edge.

When the third door opened for us, however, a Kig-Yar fired at us from behind his energy shield.

John's hand was around my arm, pulling me out of the way before I could even process that I was in danger. The needler round sliced right past my face, so close I could see the detailed facets of the crystal.

That drummed a quick cadence of fear in my heart, even as I turned to face the Kig-Yar.

I shoved him back with a pulse. He hit something - someone - invisible. The Brute rippled into sight, throwing the Kig-Yar aside and growling at us.

"Tawny, are there any more?" John fired on the Brute as it charged us.

I backed away from John and Thel, letting them handle the massive warrior.

My eyes closed as I reached out. I couldn't feel anyone nearby, save us. "No, he's alone."

"That's a relief." John's voice was strained.

My eyes opened to see the Brute trying to shove his battle axe down into John's chest.

My heart seized. "No!"

Before I could move to help him, Thel kicked the Brute's weapon up. He kneed the taller warrior in the gut and sliced his head off with his energy sword. The giant axe clattered against the ground.

I ran up to John as he pushed himself back onto his feet. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine."

I ran my fingertips down his arm. "Okay..."

Seeing him there, so close to being killed, stirred something vile and disturbing in my gut. Obviously he'd almost died before, even with me around, but it was never such an intentional thing.

Projectiles and plasma bullets were one thing, but to pin someone down and try to stab them? That was horridly intentional, and personal.

I shook myself, shedding my anxiety like water. We had things to do.

Getting through the tower was a challenge. From that point on, we were constantly hounded by Brutes and other manner of alien. The Hunters, I noticed, were in lesser numbers than before.

I wasn't one to complain.

We were almost to the tower controls. I shoved a Brute away from Thel, snapping his neck. Another replaced him, this time accompanied by a small collection of Unggoy.

I needled into their minds, killing them all. It was painful for me, and obviously fatal for them, but necessary. We had to move, we had to get this shield down before Truth could activate the rings.

A Brute jumped up, fifteen feet into the air, and aimed his weight towards John. I brought my fist up, wrapping my mind around him, and slammed him into the ground. His body broke against the metal floor.

I hated killing him, but I wasn't about to let him hurt John.

John ran up, disabling the power generator.

"Good work." Commander Orenski sounded a bit relieved to have the generator down. "The rest of Blue Team should be-"

The second generator - we could see it through the massive windows - cut off.

"That's two. It's up to Johnson, now. Get back outside, and wait for transport."

Despite the foreboding from the Domain, my shoulders sunk in relief. We'd disabled the generator. Mission accomplished.

I took John's hand as we started towards the exit. It was so nice to be with him again. Letting myself get captured by the Covenant...it was hard.

I had too many bad memories from my month in a Covenant brig.

Though they hadn't tortured any information out of me, they'd certainly tried. It had cost me my left arm, and the surgical scars reminded me that the one I had was merely a clone of the original.

The Commander commed us again. "Johnson's requesting backup. I'm sending the rest of your team to do recon, it's up to you three to help the Sergeant Major. Get to the third tower and provide assistance."

"Affirmative, ma'am." John picked up the pace. "Let's move."

**oOOOo**

**Author's Note: Holy Cannoli so much has happened in a week! I'm super hype; I've started working on the Fourth Book! ITSGONNABEAWESOME**

**I love you guys! LMK what you'd like to see; I've got a rough timeline, but if you have an awesome idea I'll incorporate it (with your permission) and ****give credit :)**

**(Edited 4/29/2020)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

I was driving the warthog up to the entrance to the third tower, rushing to help Sergeant Johnson.

Hopefully he would be able to hold out until we arrived.

John pushed himself out of the warthog before it came to a stop, his gun up and ready. The entrance looked clear, though.

I climbed out, walking with the Arbiter into the tower. John was ahead of us. He was alert, constantly scanning for danger.

We were in a hallway. There were doorways on either side down the entire length of the hall. I felt something inside one of the doorways to our right. Several Brutes.

"Guys, look out-" The door slid open, and a Brute slammed his fist into John's helmet.

He skidded across the floor. I could feel how dazed he was. His pain sent a wash of anger over me, clouding my vision.

I picked the offending Brute up and shoved him into the wall, my lip curled in rage.

Two others targeted the Arbiter.

John barreled into one from behind, and they both rolled down the hallway.

I turned just in time to see the one I'd slammed into the wall. He had his fist back and ready to hit me. His strength would literally break my body.

I felt my anger, and my strength, leave me in the face of my own mortality.

He swung. I flinched away, my hands up, and prepared to feel the pain that was sure to follow the blow.

Nothing happened. I looked up and saw the Brute frozen by waves of ultrasound.

But it wasn't my doing.

John was there, a hundred feet to the left, his hand out. He'd stopped the attack, and probably saved my life.

The Arbiter stabbed the Brute through the chest. "I was unaware your Demons possessed powers similar to yours."

John walked up, resting his hand on my shoulder.

I placed my right hand over his, looking up at Thel. "Just John."

"I see." His tone betrayed his confusion.

"We need to keep moving." John skimmed down my arm and wrapped his hand around mine.

We found another hoard of Covenant at the end of the hallway, in a large circular room. They hadn't seen us yet, though they were on high alert.

John tugged me back into the hall. "How many?"

I closed my eyes. My mind searched the room. Feeling the individuals.

"Three Brutes. A...a Hunter." My eyes opened. "That's not good."

Thel held up his deactivated energy sword. "I will handle the Mgalekgolo. Get to the elevator."

John nodded.

He and Thel broke cover at the same time, branching off in two different directions. I followed John to the right, shoving two Brutes away from us with a massive pulse.

John shot one in the head, breaking through his shield in two shots and killing him with the third. I broke one Brute's neck, trying to keep up with John and his insanely long legs. He slid to a halt on the elevator platform.

I scrambled on after him.

The Arbiter ducked behind a metallic half wall, having planted a grenade firmly into the side of a Hunter. "Darken this tower and the barrier will fall. Go, SPARTAN, we have no time to waste."

John nodded. Then he activated the elevator as Thel rolled out from his cover and engaged the final Brute.

I bit my lip and looked down. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

John didn't say anything.

"Do you think Johnson's okay?" I asked in a quiet voice.

"I hope so."

"Yeah." I nodded. "Me too."

We were in the control room.

There were two Brutes by the controls.

John lined up his rifle and took them out with seven shots. Impressive, considering he had to break their shields before he could actually hurt them.

The air rippled in front of John.

I realized what it was at the last second, thrusting my hand out and wrapping around the Brute. He rippled into sight, suspended a few feet in the air.

My lip curled as I broke his neck. The body thudded against the floor, and I walked past it with a straight spine.

I could feel more Brutes. "John, there's two more. One's just to your right."

He pulled out his handgun and shot thrice before finding the Brute. From there, he kicked the Brute's knee out and sliced his throat with a knife I didn't know he had.

The last one was sneaking around behind us.

John had his gun out, moving so we were back-to-back. "Where?"

"Right in front of you, about ten feet."

Four shots rang out, and the Brute's body slumped onto the floor.

I walked up to the control pad, feeling and hearing John behind me.

I pushed the button to disable the generator. "Okay, Commander, the third one is down."

I gazed out the window. I hadn't taken the time to look at the view in the first tower.

It was mesmerizing.

The center of the Ark was visible; an orb floating, disconnected, from the rest of the planet. There was a citadel - the control center - facing the center like a loaded gun. The space between the main portion of the Ark and the center was filled with ethereal pink clouds.

I felt some sense of purpose fill me. This Ark, while the key to universal destruction, was also a safe haven for so many creatures. I knew, somehow, that this place had been used to preserve life for much longer than it had been used to destroy it.

"Tawny."

I blinked heavily, shaking myself out of the dreamy mindset. "Yeah?"

John jerked his head. Above us, sailing towards the center of the Ark, was a Covenant ship.

It must have been one under Rtas, since I heard him over the comm. "Now, Prophet, your end has come."

A slipspace portal opened beside the cruiser. My heart jumped; whatever it was, it was almost certainly going to hit the Sangheili ship.

A Sangheili over the comms had a similar train of thought. "High Charity? By the gods, brace for impact!"

My stomach churned. Whatever had been giving me the bad feeling, it was aboard the smoking city that had just entered the atmosphere.

Several...things...broke off from the massive city. One of them tore through the cruiser, setting off a series of explosions.

A few of them lurched towards us. They were massive; at least ten feet long each.

John wrapped himself around me as they hurtled closer and closer.

I heard glass shattering around us, and the ground shook. Shards of the window fell around us. John was still tight around me, refusing to let me get hurt.

There was something _awful_ nearby.

I pushed away from John, holding his hand, and turned. The room was full of some sort of pulsating flesh.

My eyes widened, and my voice was a terrified whisper. "It's the Flood."

They must have infected High Charity, somehow.

John pushed me behind him, mowing through a line of Flood combat forms. One of them, that used to be a Sangheili, leapt several feet into the air.

I sent out a specialized pulse, shredding the Flood form to bits. Its awful scream was silenced before its remains hit the ground.

A swarm of tiny Flood forms was fast approaching, chittering to one another. I held a hand out, sending out the same pulse that had killed their brother.

Most of them died, though a few on the edges of the attack were only disoriented. John made quick work of most of those.

"Get to the elevator!" he cried.

I nodded, running down from the control platform. The few remaining Flood forms, the mobile ones, anyways, were quickly torn apart by the pulse I sent out.

John was just behind me, running backwards with his gun up.

I activated the elevator just as another wave moved to attack us. A massive pulse made quick work of the closest forms.

The smell of rotting flesh was pungent enough to penetrate my armor. It was sickly sweet. I wrinkled my nose and took a breath through my lips, wishing my helmet would filter the scent.

The survivors crowded around the lip of the elevator shaft. They couldn't survive the fall to our height, though, and they knew that.

I took a deep breath and tried to fight my dread. "I can't believe the Flood is here."

"Shipmaster, what's your status?" The Commander sounded tense.

"Significant damage. Weapons system disabled," the Shipmaster responded.

That didn't make any of us feel better.

"Move to a safe distance," the Commander ordered. "Stay away from the Flood."

Rtas sounded dishevelled. "Why would the parasite come here?!"

No one had an answer for him.

When the elevator stopped we were met with a grisly sight. The Arbiter was standing his ground well, several Flood bodies littering the floor. Our footsteps squelched wherever we moved.

I flung out another pulse. It eliminated most of the forms, including the little one that had been sneaking up behind John.

We fought our way to the front of the tower.

A Phantom came and picked up the Arbiter, who announced he would be doing recon and providing support where he was needed.

UNSC forces were there. A Pelican, specifically, dropped off a Scorpion tank. There were a few warthogs, too, with marines loaded up and ready to go.

I climbed onto the front left tread of the tank, looking up at John. "I didn't see Johnson in there."

"Or any of his men."

I chewed on my lip. "Do you think they're…?"

John shut himself in the tank and rolled ahead of the hogs. "I don't think the Sergeant would go down without a fight."

My eyes were staring, unfocused, at the ground. It blurred beneath my feet.

"Yeah, you're right," I finally admitted. "So what do you think happened to him?"

Before he could respond, Commander Orenski came over the comm. "The Shipmaster's carrier is out of commission, Chief. You're going to take out the Prophet instead. The Flood's just going to make him even more desperate to activate the rings. Get through the cliffs and into the citadel."

So we weren't done yet.

We were fighting both the Covenant and the Flood on the way down. Luckily for us, they were fighting each other as well.

The only problem with the Flood was that they could turn the few friends you had into your enemies rather quickly.

A Flood form, you could still see the terrified face of the marine though, latched onto the tank. It clawed at my ankle.

I screamed and kicked it off. A quick pulse killed it, and its tattered body was left behind.

"Tawny?" John sounded concerned.

I leaned against the main body of the tank, closing my eyes for a second. My legs curled up to my chest. "I'm okay."

He didn't respond, but I could feel his doubt.

The ground shook. My head shot up and I saw a Scarab, the dust settling around it, preparing to fire at the UNSC Hornets.

"I count two Scarabs! I repeat; two Scarabs!" one marine reported.

John fired at the one closest to us, destroying its legs.

A group of soldiers fired at us from atop the crippled Scarab. I heard one Unggoy screech, "Kill you, Demon!"

John jumped out of the tank, shooting down as many enemies as he could, and ran towards the downed Scarab.

I saw a Brute taking aim from the top of the Scarab. The gun in his hands looked bigger than me.

"No!" I threw myself towards John, flying most of the way, and wrapped myself around his shoulders. A bubble of ultrasound surrounded us, effectively blocking the plasma shot that would have surely hit his back.

We were safe, but each shot that hit the protective barrier stung me. I winced, tightening my arms around John. I couldn't let up now or they would kill us both.

I looked like a sad little backpack as John climbed the Scarab, shooting its power core. He wasn't impeded by my weight in the slightest, jumping down with all the grace he normally possessed.

He reached up, pulling me off of his back and onto his shoulders as he ran.

He threw himself into the tank, rushing to get us away from the overheating Scarab. I pushed myself off of his shoulders and slid down onto the tread.

The Scarab exploded behind us, sending forth a shockwave rival to some of the pulses I could send out.

"All units, concentrate your fire on the last Scarab!" the Commander ordered.

She sounded tense, but there was good reason. We were all distinctly aware of the time counting down; Truth would activate the rings soon.

We _had_ to stop him, quickly.

I stood up on the tread, my right hand against the tank for stability. "I have an idea. John, can you cover for me?"

"On it," he replied without hesitation.

I floated up and off of the tank, landing in front of the Scarab. Whoever was manning it must not have seen me, because its demented eye passed me over.

That was a mistake.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Guys! I'm so excited! Shit's about to gO DOWN IN THIS STORY HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS AHHHHHH**

**Anywho I love all of you so much :)**

**Also that playlist on Spotify, "Chipped" by Ashenbisexual, is applicable to this story as well. I'm incredibly lazy.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

The Prophet of Truth was in the citadel, preparing to fire the rings. We _had_ to get in there, Flood and Covenant be damned.

This Scarab was in the way, so I had to move it. It didn't matter that hunger was making my arms shake. It didn't matter that I couldn't feel my legs.

It had to get done.

I held my hands up, surrounding the Scarab with ultrasonic waves. My entire body strained as I lifted it up into the air. I felt myself give out for a moment, and the Scarab almost hit the ground.

A groan slid through my teeth as I forced myself to keep it up. Then, my body shaking, I pushed it out. It was over the edge, in the oblivion between the main Ark and the orb in the center.

I let it drop.

Then I fell to my knees, my chest heaving.

"Tawny?"

My legs strained as I stood, but I ignored them. "I'm okay, John."

Thel came over the comms. "SPARTAN, come to me. This platform hides a path."

I climbed lethargically onto the tank's tread, leaning against the main body. Moving that Scarab was exhausting.

And the main battle was yet to come, I could feel it.

John drove the tank up to a ramp. From there we would have to walk, since the ramp was too narrow for the Scorpion.

I slid down the tread.

John climbed down next to me. "You good?"

I nodded, thankful for my helmet. I didn't have to meet his eyes when I was wearing it.

I wasn't good. I was exhausted, mentally and physically. I didn't know how long I'd been unconscious aboard the Covenant ship, but I felt like I hadn't eaten in forever. There was a pit in my stomach. My hands were shaking.

I couldn't focus on that just now.

We walked up the ramp, meeting the Arbiter at the top. It cut off, directly across from the entrance to the citadel.

John looked over at the citadel, several hundred feet away. "How are we supposed to get over?"

"I...I can fly us over."

"No." John's voice was hard. "You need to rest."

I didn't say anything out loud, but I was grateful. I'm sure I _could_ have taken us all across, but it wouldn't have been easy. I was drained, and together I'm sure we would have all weighed several thousand pounds.

"Can you activate the bridge?" John asked.

My head shot up. He'd had reminded me of a power I'd almost forgotten I had, even though I used it constantly with my suit. I had technokinesis. That wasn't nearly as exhausting.

I glanced across the gap. "I-I think I can. Give me just a second."

John nodded.

Thel activated his energy sword. "Hurry, human. The Flood scales the citadel's far wall. The Prophet will die by my hand, not theirs."

I tuned him out and focused on the controls I could feel for the hardlight bridge. It was simple to turn it on, and my eyes opened to see a massive blue pathway beckoning us into the citadel.

I refused to limp, even though my legs were screaming. John had enough to worry about, and I knew he would be worried if I started limping. I couldn't distract him; we weren't safe here.

The inside of the citadel was a huge hallway. There was a door on the far end; why were there so many useless doors?

"Fly faithful...stand firm," a familiar voice sent chills down my spine.

Screens all around us lit up and displayed the Prophet of Truth.

"Though our enemies crowd around us, we tread the blessed path. In a moment I will light the rings, and all who believe shall be saved!"

John broke into a run. I heard Thel's footsteps speed up behind me as I lifted into the air.

The Prophet moved aside to display a Brute, holding Sergeant Johnson by his throat. The Sergeant was very obviously bruised, but he wasn't broken. He punched the Brute in the face, though it didn't do much of anything to the massive warrior.

I felt dread rise in my stomach. "I guess we know what happened to Johnson."

"How close are you, Chief?" Commander Orenski asked.

John looked up at the massive elevator shaft. "Not close enough."

I knew what I had to do.

I reached up to touch his elbow. "John, do you trust me?"

"What are you planning?"

I lifted up into the air, ignoring the exhaustion that was so prominent in my mind. "I can get up there faster than you two. I'm going to stop Truth from activating the rings."

I shot up the shaft before John could protest; and I knew he would.

But he couldn't - wouldn't - join me. He trusted my abilities much more than he trusted Thel, so he didn't want to leave the Sangheili by himself.

And he hadn't practiced flying yet; he would rather be slow and consistent than fast and unreliable.

I was several hundred feet above them when he opened a private comm to me. "Is this a good idea?"

"Probably not." I ignored my nerves. "B-but it's the only thing that might work. Just keep coming, I'm probably going to need help."

He didn't respond.

I flew into the control room. High above the group, by a few hundred feet, they didn't see me. I counted a handful of Brutes, and the Prophet.

One Brute slammed Johnson down on the control panel.

The marine coughed. "What's the matter, big shot? Can't start your own party?"

"I admit, I need your help." The Prophet didn't sound happy to admit that. "But that secret dies with all the rest."

I dropped down next to him. "No, it won't."

The Brute on Johnson turned, prepared to slam a fist into my body. I held a hand out, knocking him over the control panel and across the room with a quick pulse.

"Ge-get out of here!" Johnson's voice was labored. "They're going to use us to-"

"You delay the inevitable." The Prophet was right behind me.

I turned around, shoving him back with another pulse. It was then that his Honor Guard opened fire on me. I encased Johnson and myself in a bubble.

Despite the burning that stung me with every shot against the barrier, I didn't cry out. They wouldn't get the pleasure.

"One of you will light the rings." The Prophet stood, trembling like an old man who hadn't walked in ages. "You cannot hope to hold them off forever."

"He's right, short stuff." Johnson sagged against the control panel. "You can't-you can't do this for very long."

I was on my knees, my shoulders taut as I struggled to keep the barrier up. "I don't have to."

Truth began firing a needler at us. I moaned, clenching my teeth against the barrage of pain. It felt like the needles were digging into my skin, instead of reflecting off of the barrier.

The pain wasn't as severe as a true injury from a needler, but it wasn't pleasant by any means.

I felt myself about to give, my body shaking as I slumped almost onto the floor. A strained groan, bordering on a scream, slid through my teeth.

The firing stopped.

I looked up, and immediately decided I would be keeping my barrier up. The Flood rushed in from the entrance tunnel, overtaking the Brutes.

The entrance tunnel...that John and Thel were supposed to come through! Had they been overtaken by the Flood?

To my disbelief, John and Thel seemed to be working with the Flood. The unnatural organisms were protecting them, or at the very least leaving them be.

I guess, for now, we had a common goal. None of us wanted the rings to fire.

Still, as John said, the enemy of my enemy _isn't_ my friend.

I dissipated the shield, letting the Sergeant rest against a metal step that stuck out of the ground, and turned to the nearest Flood form. They thought I wouldn't attack them, since we were working together.

They were wrong.

With their backs turned, the first pulse I sent out caught several parasites. They screamed, their bodies bursting into fleshy ribbons.

I killed most of the Flood that was there, including that which had taken over the Honor Guard.

John walked up to me, running a hand down the side of my helmet. "Are you alright?"

I nodded. After all of the pain of plasma fire, the lack thereof felt like heaven.

"Can you see, Arbiter? The moment of salvation is at hand." The Prophet of Truth pushed himself up on trembling arms.

Thel grabbed his throat, holding the deactivated energy sword to his face. "There will be no salvation, Prophet."

"Your kind...never believed in the promise of the sacred rings."

I saw pulsating bits of flesh growing over the Prophet's head, just as his breath became green. He was being possessed by the Flood.

"I will have my revenge on a Prophet, not a plague," Thel growled. He dropped the half-possessed Prophet onto the unforgiving metal ground.

I held a hand out and sent out a small pulse. A deep, animalistic roar echoed from the Flood, and the goop fell from the Prophet's body.

I sagged heavily against John, letting my eyes close. "I'm so...tired."

His hand was on my back. "We're not done yet."

"I know." My voice sounded weary.

We would certainly have to fight the Flood after this. I would have to be okay, for a few minutes more.

"My feet shall tread the path," the Prophet insisted weakly. "I _shall_ become a god!"

I looked down. Even he had fallen prey to the lies of his ancestors.

"I am Truth! The _voice_ of the Covenant!"

Thel picked him up by his throat. "And so, you must be silenced."

There was a distinct sound of burning flesh, an anguished cry from the Prophet, and he fell dead. There were two gaping holes in his front, where the Arbiter's energy sword had pierced through him.

He couldn't even try to fire the rings now.

Thel let out a triumphant roar, pride and bitter joy coursing through him.

I couldn't help but smile softly; he'd been lied to for so long. His whole life, really. That he got to exact revenge was...just. Fair.

He turned to face us, and John nodded to him. He'd done it, just like he said he would. Truth died by his hand.

I felt...respect? Yes, John was well on the path to trusting the Arbiter, and he respected him as a warrior. Maybe we really _could_ be allies.

Everything shook for a moment, before massive tentacles erupted through the floor. I screamed in both fear and disgust. It was the Gravemind, the epitome of evil, and he no longer needed us alive.

A deep laugh erupted from...somewhere. All around us. Everywhere.

The window shattered, a Pelican diving through it to circle around us. I heard Commander Orenski's voice through the comms. "Get on, quick!"

She was like a guardian angel, showing up when we needed her most.

I picked Johnson up in a wrap of ultrasound, all but throwing him into the ship. With it hovering some eight feet above the floor, there was no way he would have made it on his own. Not in his weakened state.

The Pelican began ascending.

Thel leapt up, grabbing the edge of the ramp, and held his hand out.

John grabbed his hand and turned to me. "Come on!"

I ran forward, latching my hand onto his wrist. He returned the favor, and I felt my wrist pop in his unbelievably tight grip.

We were hanging from the ramp, but at least we were on board.

Something hit us, John caught the brunt of it, and sent us flying. It was a tentacle; the Gravemind.

We landed in a pile of limbs and pain on the floor. I watched with heavy eyelids as the Pelican took off. Our last hope was gone. How were we supposed to fight an immeasurable, timeless being?

I just wanted to sleep.

A deep voice filled the room. "Now the gate had been unlatched, headstones pushed aside. Corpses shift and offer room, a fate you _must_ abide!"

The Gravemind spoke in disturbingly beautiful poetry. It made him even more terrifying.

John pulled me out of the floor, moving back-to-back with Thel. They were on either side of me, and John had one arm back to shield me.

I shoved myself out from in between them, refusing to be protected, and pressed back against them.

"We trade one enemy for another," Thel noted dryly.

The tentacles heaved before disappearing back into the floor. Instead, a small group of Flood forms jumped out of the ground.

"I can't risk coming back for you yet. Find a way down, and I'll see what I can do." Commander Orenski hated having to leave us behind.

The Flood attacked. I shot my arms out, buffeting them with destructive pulses. My strength was waning, which was bad for both of us. It meant that, soon, I wouldn't be able to kill them. And for now, it made their deaths slower and more painful.

I couldn't feel sympathy for them, though. Not when I knew of the mental torture their hosts went through. The only way to free them was to kill them.

And that's exactly what I did.

It was child's play to get back to the lift, even in my exhausted state. I didn't have to kill every single spore; John and the Arbiter were just as eager to shoot or slice through the parasites. I wasn't fighting alone.

Just as we approached the end of the passageway between the control center and the lift, a massive crush of Flood forms poured out. I shook off my lethargy, though some of it remained, and prepared myself to expend even more energy.

Some of the Flood forms, in an increasing number, were human soldiers. I couldn't look as I tore their bodies apart with the disharmonious pulses; how could I bear to? They were already gone, I knew, but I still felt as if I was killing them.

That was someone's son. A sister, maybe, who I just cut down. One looked like an uncle of mine.

It didn't matter, I chanted to myself, they were already dead. As good as dead, maybe even worse.

Death was a favor, really. Like the death I'd craved when the Covenant had tortured me for that month.

Why was I thinking about that now?

A Flood form leapt up onto my helmet, its slathering proboscis blocking my view. I screamed, falling onto the floor, and tried to pry it off. My entire body began desperately emitting the pulse, and the parasite shattered.

My shoulders were tight as I looked around. I was glad to see again, but the dead bodies were a bit sickening. There were no living Flood forms, though, so that was good.

More would come to replace them soon.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: It's my birthday! So I figured I'd let go of my self control and update because why not? AJKKSckscajbJSGSKHGakd I'm getting some Halo books today and I'm sO hYpE**

**Also to Krista: TYSM for reviewing! I'm so glad you found some common ground with Tawny; that's what I was going for. She's got cool powers, yeah, but the EDS is always there and I really don't want to write it out. No one's perfect, and Tawny has to live with a weaker body than normal. IG I just wanted to show that you don't have to be stereotypically strong to be strong**

**Anywho I love all of you so much!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

There was the distinct sound of something sticky trying to keep me on the floor. I pushed myself up and twisted to look down at my backside. It, along with my left thigh, was covered in a thin layer of green goop. Foul-smelling green goop.

It was also on the bottoms of my feet and the palms of my hands, much to my chagrin.

"Are you okay?"

I looked up at John, my face heating. He and the Arbiter were staring at me, and I could practically hear their thoughts; I'd almost _died_ and I was worried about my butt?

"I..." I straightened up. "Yeah I'm okay."

Thel scanned our surroundings. "We must find a way down, humans."

John turned to look at a small shaft, off to the side. "What about that?"

Thel walked up. He looked down the shaft, scrutinizing it. Then, without a word, he jumped down.

I heard a chorus of chitters. The Flood was coming.

I stumbled back. "John…"

"I hear them. Go." He nodded me towards the shaft.

I sat down, my legs hanging into the pit, and slid off of the edge. Into the blackness.

I fell down the chute, surrounding myself in a small bubble of ultrasound. When I hit the ground, at least thirty feet below, it absorbed most of the impact.

Thel was there, looking around. We were in a hallway of sorts, one I hadn't seen before. It branched off to the left and right, with a massive wall directly in front of us.

John landed next to me, his weight shaking the ground. I would have jumped had I not been so exhausted.

My head shot up as I felt a pulse. There was something...just ahead. To the right.

I pushed myself off of my knees and followed the pulse.

"What do you see?" Thel asked from behind me.

"Nothing. There's something…" I struggled to focus on the conversation. "You feel it, John."

John nodded, walking just behind me.

Something big was ahead. The pulse beckoned me, drawing me in. I had to see what it was - it was important.

There was another hallway to the right. I turned, walking up the staircase and up to the holographic control panel. There was a giant bulkhead in front of us.

John walked up behind me, pressing the activation control.

The bulkhead slid away to reveal the abyss between the core and the Ark. There was a balcony, where one could stand on the very edge. I walked forward, as if in a trance, to stand with my toes over the endless expanse below.

John was just as entranced as I, staring out into the pink abyss.

There was something down there. Around the core, a ring. A ring world.

Another Halo.

It wasn't complete yet, gaps were still visible, but it was almost done. It rose up from around the core, unbelievably gargantuan. It was _right there_, scarcely a mile from us. My hand reached out towards it, longing to touch the magnificent construction.

"A replacement; for the ring you destroyed," the Arbiter surmised from behind us.

I glanced up at him. The ring was still rising, its massive form moving higher and higher.

I took a shaky breath. "We have to light it."

John nodded.

"We have to get rid of the Flood." My voice wavered a bit.

His hand was heavy on my shoulder. "We will."

I looked down. "How are we supposed to light it without an Index?"

"There may yet be a way." Thel moved to walk back into the citadel. "The shipmaster possesses an Oracle."

"An Oracle…" I bit my lip. "A-a Monitor! You have a Monitor?"

"He was captured on the first ring we encountered, after you destroyed it."

My head shot up. "You have Guilty Spark? J-John...he still has an Index!"

John turned to face Thel. "Get him down here."

"At once." Thel nodded.

John opened a comm. "Commander."

**Orenski responded right away. **"Chief. What is it?"

He took my hand, leading me back into the citadel. "Sir. We're going to activate Halo. I suggest you get everyone out of here."

She was silent for a moment. "Understood, Chief. The _Dawn_ was evacuated a few hours ago, I'll send you the coordinates."

She was offering a way out. If we got on the Dawn fast enough, we may be able to avoid the firing. It was an incredibly long shot, though.

**The gesture wasn't lost on John. **"Thank you, sir."

"And, Chief? It was an honor."

He slid his rifle off of his back, checking the ammo. "Likewise, sir."

I looked down, my teeth digging into my lip. A tactical pulse would kill all of the nearby Flood, though it wasn't practical for long-range use.

But they were all right here. We didn't need long range.

I took a deep breath and looked down at my fingers, which were intertwined with each other. "We're probably going to die, aren't we?"

John turned and wrapped his arms around me. I rested my head against his chest, wishing for a moment that my helmet was off.

There was a good chance we wouldn't survive this. Not just a good chance; this was a suicide mission. Our surviving would be the anomaly here.

But that was okay. To save everyone else from the Gravemind, I would do anything.

Our lives were a small price to pay.

"I love you, John," I whispered.

"I love you."

I closed my eyes. If I imagined it, we were still on the _Spirit of Fire_. Eating lunch in my room, and not worrying about death at every turn.

That felt like so long ago, now. That _was_ so long ago. I barely knew John then.

Things had been so much simpler.

Would I ever see Professor Anders again? Or Phong, or Dadip? Or Davidson? It had been even longer since I'd seen my parents. They still thought I was _dead_.

I would do this to save them. We would die, but so many others would live. This was worth it.

"John?" It was Kelly.

**John's voice was steady. **"Stay with the Commander, Blue Team."

Fred didn't sound happy. "Chief, are you sure?"

He looked up, at the ring, and I felt his resolve steel. "I am."

There was a silent beat.

"Goodbye, Chief."

Thel turned to us. "It is done, humans. The Oracle will meet us on the ring."

"Right." I straightened up. "We need to find a way over."

"I heard you need a ride?" Sergeant Johnson came over the comms.

"Johnson?" I couldn't hide my disbelief. "Where are you?"

Something huge blocked the view from the balcony. I turned, my eyes wide. There, hovering a few hundred feet away, was the _Forward Unto Dawn_.

"What are you waiting for? Get on!"

I stepped up to the edge of the balcony. There were at least five hundred feet between us and the open hangar bay door.

I turned to the others. "I'll have to fly us over."

"I'll help you." John stepped forward, grabbing my hand.

I didn't argue. I was too exhausted. He didn't have much practice, but if he provided the raw strength I could keep all of us from falling into the abyss.

"Okay, let's go." I let out a shaky breath.

John held his hand up, making a fist. I felt the ultrasound surround all of us. It lifted us up, a few feet above the ground.

I held my hand out, moving us slowly across the gap.

My eyes fell to the expanse below. There was just...nothing. There was the Ark behind us, the core before us, and we were in the middle of empty space. There was an atmosphere, of course, since the Arbiter hadn't started asphyxiating, but there was no land. If we fell...would we fall right through and into space?

We were in the hangar. John released his hold on us, and we landed with a _clang_.

"We're on board," John told the Sergeant.

"Roger that. Go get a Warthog ready, I don't know how close I can get us to the control room."

Thel took off at a quick pace.

I glanced up at John. "I'm not- there's no way I'm running."

"No one said you had to."

"Good." I nodded shakily.

I took his hand, and together we walked after the Arbiter. I was distinctly aware of the Flood gore on my hands, and now on John's, but he didn't seem to care.

We made our way to the lower levels, where the hogs deployed from. It felt like a ghost ship, with only us to fill the massive halls.

It _was_ a ghost ship, I supposed. It had been evacuated...were they running from the Flood or the Covenant?

Either way, we were the only ones on board. It was up to us to fire the ring, to kill the Gravemind, so that he couldn't torture anyone else.

We walked into the ground deployment bay. The Arbiter was standing atop a Warthog in the gunner's position.

My legs ached as I tried to climb up into the driver's seat. They were shaking so severely it was visible through my armor.

John grabbed me under my arms and hoisted me up.

"Thanks." I blushed under my helmet.

He nodded, standing next to me. In the hog, which was impossibly tall, I was equal with the bottom of his helmet. A vast improvement over the mid-arm range I usually reached.

I looked down. "I'm scared."

"I know."

I looked down. Tears were welling up in my eyes, but I didn't want to cry. I didn't want to die, either, yet there was a good chance we all would.

Johnson was there, looking as if he'd run the whole way. "Let's go! We've got Flood dispersal pods landing all over the ring; they're trying to keep us from the controls!"

John climbed up, walking on the seatbacks behind me and settling in the passenger seat.

Johnson pulled himself onto the gunner's perch next to Thel. "Move over, big shot."

I glanced back. "Ready?"

"As we'll ever be," the Sergeant responded.

"Okay." I closed my eyes, moving into the ship's systems. I lowered the floor beneath us.

As soon as we were on the ground I shoved the hog into first, taking off towards the control tower. I could feel the Flood all around us, but so far we were moving too quickly for them to be a threat.

Even if they were, we couldn't use the gun with two people up there. Someone would fall off.

John made use of his rifle, though. He leaned out, taking down as many Flood organisms as he could. The tower was still about a mile away.

All things considered, Johnson had gotten us pretty close.

A Flood pod crashed down in front of us. I cried out and jerked the hog to the right. Then swiftly back to the left so that we didn't hit a stone cliff.

For a heart-stopping second we were balancing on two wheels. It felt like the hog was about to roll. That would definitely kill Thel and Johnson, and probably John and I as well.

John leaned as far right as he could. His extra weight helped guide the hog back down on four wheels.

And onward we sped.

There, the tower was right in front of us.

I pulled the Warthog up a ramp, halting by the door. The Flood was all around us, climbing to try and take us down.

John, Thel, and Johnson jumped out with their guns blazing.

I knew I should have been helping them, but it was hard to even push myself out of the Warthog. I landed roughly, leaning against the vehicle. I could see John shooting through a host of Flood parasites, their shrill screams erupting in time with his bullets.

"Spark, you in there?" The Sergeant shot through another Flood. "Open the damn door!"

"Just as soon as you dispose of all proximate Flood forms. I'm afraid contamination protocols do not allow for-"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Tawny, can you get them open?"

I limped up to the door and put my hand on the controls. "I think so. Be ready to move in, s-so I can shut them out."

"Roger." He moved so that he was scarcely three feet from me, still firing his gun.

Thel and John copied him, forming a loose semi-circle around me. They didn't want to turn their backs to the Flood for even a moment.

I closed my eyes and delved into the control system. Guilty Spark was trying to push me out, or at least keep me from opening the door.

I sent a strong pulse towards him, temporarily knocking him out of the system.

I felt bad. He was absolutely filled with joy at having another Installation, and I'd just kicked him out of its mainframe.

But we had to get inside.

The doors began opening. I pulled out of the system long enough to shout, "Go! Quickly!"

The three soldiers fell back. I set the doors to close again and shoved myself forward, ignoring my screaming muscles.

The Flood was right behind me.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! Here's another chapter!**

**Also, I know I'm bad at physically describing Tawny. I didn't even realize; I have such a clear mental image of her I kinda forgot. I'm so sorry about that :(**

**Anywho I like to think she looks kinda like Rapunzel from Tangled. I mean, her hair's shorter. It's about the same shade, maybe a little darker but still blonde, and falls to her shoulders usually. In this story it's longer because she hasn't had a chance to cut it in a while; it's an inch or two past her shoulders.**

**And she's got big green eyes and kinda pale skin and she's pretty scrawny. She stands at 5'4". She's got laceration scars on her stomach and the palm of her right hand, from the month with the Covies. Also from that is a thick scar on the left side of her ribs.**

**And the scar from her arm transplant is pretty big. It looks a lot like the SPARTAN II scars, it's reddish and concave. It's a band around her arm, where the new and old arm meet, and a line on the outside where they had to cut into both the old and new arm to connect all of the nerves and muscles and bones.**

**I love all of you so much!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

I staggered inside just as the doors sealed. A lone combat form was there, lurching towards us like a demented zombie.

I threw my hands out, destroying it with a single pulse.

"We should make haste, humans." Thel moved forward.

We were halfway down the hallway when I got a severe case of tunnel vision. Based on the staggering soldiers around me, I wasn't the only one.

"_Do I take life, or give it? Who is victim and who is foe?"_ the Gravemind bellowed in my mind.

I shook my head as he retreated. There was a whine in my ears that seemed reluctant to fade.

Johnson was leaning against the wall with one hand.

"The _hell_ was that?" he demanded.

"The Gravemind." John's voice was bitter.

I shook my head to clear the dizziness. "W-we need to go."

Thel seemed to agree with me, pressing on. I noticed his energy sword was out, his hand tight around it.

"Hurry!" Johnson pushed ahead. "The control room's close!"

I could feel it. So could John, I knew. It was incredibly close, calling to us. Beckoning us into its doorway.

Come, it seemed to whisper, let me show you _power_.

I paused by a massive door on our left. "Here."

It slid open. We were greeted by the Guilty Spark, who activated a hardlight bridge from the doorway to the controls. He was humming a happy little song as he flew alongside us.

"Hello," he greeted. "Wonderful news; the Installation is almost complete."

Sergeant Johnson walked ahead of us. He would be the one to activate the ring.

"Terrific," he growled. Angry that Guilty Spark was so pleased at the prospect of something that would probably kill us.

"Yes, isn't it?" Guilty Spark bobbed along. "I have begun my simulations. No promises, but initial results indicate this facility should be ready to fire in just a few more days."

Johnson set his gun down, standing before the control panel. "We don't _have_ a few more days."

"B-but-but a premature firing would _destroy_ the Ark!" Guilty Spark blustered.

Johnson grabbed at the Monitor. "Sorry. I need the Index, Spark!"

"You'll destroy this Installation!" He argued, trying to pull away from the Sergeant.

When he finally broke loose, a bright red bolt flew from his eye to Johnson's chest.

Johnson let out an awful scream and collapsed. The smell of charred flesh hit me, and I fully realized what had happened. Guilty Spark was floating, red, over Johnson's dying form.

"Unacceptable. Unacceptable! Absolutely unacceptable!" the Monitor fumed.

John ran towards the Sergeant, but 343 hit him with a similar attack. It didn't injure him, thanks to his armor, but it did knock him onto the floor. A pained grunt tore out of his mouth.

"No! Stop it!" I screamed, throwing my hands out. I gripped 343 in a vice of ultrasound and drew him close. "How dare you? How _dare_ you?!"

"Protocol dictates action! I see now that working with you was wrong!"

I brought him closer to me, glancing at the Arbiter. He was hiding in the shadows, his gun trained on the Monitor.

I held my hand up; we still needed the Index from him.

"You are a child of my makers," the Monitor admitted, "Inheritor of all they left behind. You _are_ Forerunner."

He'd been speaking to both John and I at that moment.

"But this ring...is _mine_."

I slammed him down against the metal floor and pulled him up towards me. I gripped part of his frame with my hand. "This Installation will be yours when I say so. Give me the Index!"

"Never!" he argued, trying to pull back.

I had a hold on him with more than my hand, though. My mind was keeping him still in a rippling bubble of ultrasound.

I growled, "You don't have to _give_ it to me."

My eyes closed, and I invaded his mind. He was sentient, just like any human, and his mind was just as vulnerable to me.

I found the Index and forced him to eject it. When it was in my hand I tossed it to John. "Go!"

He caught it and broke for the control panel.

"No! My Installation!"

I regarded Guilty Spark for a moment. Then I threw him over the side of the hardlight bridge. Blackness deep as hell, continuing down further than I could see, greeted him.

Before he could get the idea to fly back up, I sent a pulse down. It knocked him out. He tumbled helplessly down, down, down.

I did feel bad for him.

Then my eyes rose to Johnson. He was barely alive.

John was kneeling in front of him, sorrow rippling off of him like massive waves. "I'm getting you out of here."

The Sergeant grunted. "N-no you're not, kid."

Tears welled up in my eyes. I pulled my helmet off, wiping my face with the back of my armored hand. Thel was beside me. He meant to offer silent support, but I ended up leaning against him. I couldn't look away from Johnson.

John reached down, and they clasped hands.

"Don't let her go." Johnson grunted in pain. "Don't _ever_ let her go."

I bit down on my lip, forcing my sob down. I turned into Thel, closing my eyes.

Johnson's voice was rough, weak. Growing weaker. "Send me out...with a bang."

I felt him die. A heavy sob shook my body. "No. He...he's _gone_."

I couldn't believe the gung-ho Sergeant was really dead. He was Sergeant _Johnson_, practically immortal. He danced with death as often as John, and enjoyed it twice as much. To think he was gone...

My grief wasn't only mine, though. I hadn't known Johnson well enough to truly _grieve_ him. But John...Sergeant Johnson had been like a father to him. One of the few people he really and truly cared about.

John showed absolutely none of his grief, but it rippled off of him in heavy waves that wrenched my heart.

Something clanged. I looked up to see John at the control panel. He turned to us just as a massive beam of blue light erupted behind him. It shot up, through the tip of the tower and into the sky.

He'd activated Halo.

My chest heaved as I pulled my helmet on. I grabbed John's hand as he moved out of the room. We would have to haul ass to get to the _Dawn_ before the ring fired.

The control room - the entire Installation - began collapsing. John broke into a run, Thel matching pace beside him, towards the exit. I forced myself to expend a little more energy, floating so that I stood a chance of keeping up with them.

John pulled me along effortlessly, and I floated myself into the Warthog when we arrived. John vaulted in, and I felt the hog shake when Thel climbed onto the gun.

I shoved it into reverse, backing down the ramp. Then I tried to shift to first.

It jammed, not wanting to move into first gear. I cursed, jiggling the gearshift. My hands were shaking; the Installation was _about to fire_.

It caught, and I forced it roughly into gear. Within seconds I was in second, then third. A few moments later, after we'd cleared the dead Flood forms, we went up to fourth.

"Even in death, your Sergeant guides us home," Thel said in a somewhat reverent voice.

And he was right. Johnson had been the one to use the _Dawn_. Without it, we would be screwed.

Up to fifth, we don't have time to be cautious. I was going well above 100 mph.

I drove us onto the platform at the bottom of the _Dawn _and had it pull us up. It wasn't moving fast enough; I could feel the ring building up power. It was about to blow.

I lifted my hands up, surrounding the Warthog with my mind. In a burst of hysterical strength, I shoved us up into the ship. The hog rolled on its side, jolting all of us.

John and I would have a hard time getting out. Thel, on the other hand, had been thrown from the gunner's perch to the floor. He stood, moving rapidly for the front of the ship. "I shall get to the controls."

Then he was gone.

After that one last burst of strength, my body finally gave out. I laid heavily on John, who was fighting to get out of the Warthog. He eventually kicked his way out, sliding across the floor, and I fell halfway out of my seat. A weak groan fell from my lips.

He pulled me out, kneeling with my head on his lap. "Are you alright?"

He couldn't see my exhaustion; I had my helmet on. So I nodded, still not wanting him to worry. "I'm...okay."

My eyes were closing. I felt the ship shudder, moving rapidly into the air.

"Stay awake," John all but pleaded.

"I'm trying. I don't...want to. I-"

The ship shuddered again. We were headed for the slipspace portal above the Ark. If we didn't make it in time...at least the Flood didn't get us.

I didn't want John to die, though.

Darkness enveloped us as we entered the portal.

Wait...something was wrong. Just as the quickly as the dark enveloped us, everything flashed white.

The ship jerked massively, sending us flying around the massive garage.

My scream cut short when I hit my head on something hard. My vision flickered, eventually blacking out.

**oOOOo**

Why did my head always seem to hurt?

I groaned, wishing I was still in the abyss of sleep. Then, pain didn't reach me.

"Tawny."

I smiled, still with my eyes closed. "John."

I felt...strange. Weightless.

My eyes opened. We were in a dark hallway. To my right was black, endless space. The ship had been sliced in half.

Oh, my god. That was _outer space_.

"John?" My voice shook.

He was floating behind me. "Don't worry."

"What happened?" I hated how much my voice sounded like a whimper.

"The slipspace portal collapsed."

"Thel...do y- do you think he made it?"

"I don't know." John looked out, into outer space. "We need to get to a pressurized area."

I took his hand, letting him pull me up to the wall he'd been holding. Together, we floated through the ship. I was still weak, and starving, but it was much easier to handle with absolutely zero gravity pushing down on me.

I paused when we passed a certain hallway. "I think I can seal it from here. I don't...I don't know if we have enough power for both life support and gravity."

"We'll be fine without gravity."

"Right." I nodded. "Don't let me go."

Something flashed through his heart. A memory hit me like a freight train; that was exactly what Johnson had said before he died.

John's hand was firm around mine. "I won't."

"Thank you."

I slid into the ship's controls, forcing the emergency bulkheads down between us and space. Then I activated life support. The air would be breathable in a few minutes, hopefully.

My eyes opened. "Okay, we should be able to take our helmets off soon. A-are you okay?"

He nodded. "Are you?"

I felt the pit in my stomach. "I'm...I'm starving. How long did Thel have me?" I was referring to when I let myself get captured.

"Twenty eight hours. Did you eat?"

I shook my head. "I-is there food here?"

I didn't know how much of the ship survived.

He nodded. "The aft mess hall should be intact. Let's go."

Just as we moved to go down the hallway, my HUD let me know the air was breathable. I tugged my helmet off.

"John...I'm sorry." I didn't meet his eyes as we floated through the ship.

"For what?"

"For...If I had been paying attention, Spark never would have been able to-" I blinked my tears away. Johnson had died right in front of me.

I was _right there_.

John didn't say anything. Maybe I was right. How different would things have been if Johnson had survived?

Could I have saved him?

I couldn't think about that. Even if I could have saved him, I didn't. He was dead. He was _dead_, and nothing would change that.

We wandered into the mess hall. Into the kitchen. All of the food was stored with zero gravity in mind, so there wasn't a huge mess.

"John, where are we?"

He grabbed a few MREs. "Too far for scans to show any nearby systems. We're nowhere near UEG space."

That was...terrifying. We were in unknown space. Completely alone.

I followed him back into a smaller room. A cryo bay.

He closed the door. "Eat. I'll try to send a distress signal. Then we should go to sleep; it could be years before anyone finds us."

My stomach dropped. "Years?"

He forced the lights of the bay to turn on. A single nod solidified the dread in my gut.

"I-I...I don't want to be out here for years," I whimpered.

"That's why we're going into cryosleep."

I glanced at the MRE in my hands. "Okay. We're...we won't die out here, will we?"

He didn't respond, which solidified my fear. We would probably die.

At least he didn't lie about it.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: I'm so sorry that I killed off Johnson. It made me cry several times writing it. I mean...that's John's dAD CHRIST.**

**But also I love angst and there's nothing I can do to stop myself from writing it so once again I'm so sorry**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

I opened the MRE in my hands, watching the clear bag full of barbequed pork float out. Upon opening it, and pulling some out with the plastic spoon I'd been provided, I found it didn't taste very bad at all.

It was actually _really_ good. That may have been the hunger talking, but I truly enjoyed taste of the cheaply-produced pork and sauce.

After having no food for at least two days, I found it hard to control myself. I ended up stuffing the pork into my mouth too fast.

My throat closed up. I couldn't breathe. But I didn't freak out.

In fact, I didn't give any sign that I couldn't breathe. Even when my vision started to swim.

In the zero gravity it was much easier to hide the dizziness, that was for sure.

It was acid reflux, something I'd dealt with my whole life. I hated being unable to breathe, but so far the suffocation had always gone away before things got too bad. So I wasn't very concerned.

As soon as my airway reopened I took another, more subdued, bite of the cheese-smeared toast.

While I was eating John fiddled with the holotank in the middle of the room. He seemed frustrated. He wouldn't give up, though, which seemed to increase his mild anger.

I stayed quiet, eating my food for a few minutes.

His anger reached a peak. He gave no physical sign, but I could feel it. It was fueled by fear, which only made it more bitter.

"What's wrong?" I slid my trash back into the main bag.

"The comms won't come online."

I pushed myself away from the wall. "Can I try?"

He held a hand out.

It was simple to find my way into the ship's systems again. They were crippled, most of them, but overall the back half of the ship was operational. Somehow. It seemed too good to be true.

I found the comms. They didn't want to come online; their main node had been separated from us, in the front half of the ship.

Well, they would be coming online today. Whether they wanted to or not.

I forced them as online as they would get, setting them to record an audio file. It was easier to do from inside the system. If I'd been trying to do it manually I would have been at more of a loss than John.

My eyes opened. "Okay, it's recording."

John gripped the holotable with both hands. "Mayday, mayday. This is UNSC FFG _Forward Unto Dawn_. Requesting immediate evac. We have survivors aboard. Code victor zero three dash one dash Sierra zero-one-one-seven. I repeat; requesting immediate evacuation, survivors aboard."

He nodded to me. I cut the recording and set the comm to send out in a loop.

"So, what now?" I asked.

"Now we wait." He moved towards a cryo pod.

I held a hand out towards him. "Do we have to go into cryo right away? I-I mean, what if we're closer to UEG space than we realize? May-maybe...maybe someone will find us."

He looked up at me. "There's enough food to last us three months. If no one finds us in one, we'll go to sleep. Deal?"

I nodded, setting my helmet in an empty cryo pod. "Deal."

He pulled his helmet off and I gasped.

"John, you're bleeding."

There was a massive wound slicing jaggedly down from his left temple to his cheekbone. He reached up with two fingers, touching the laceration. "It's fine. Head wounds bleed a lot."

"What if it gets infected?"

"It won't."

I pushed myself towards the door, grabbing his hand on the way past. He stayed where he was, halting my momentum.

I tugged on him fruitlessly. "Come on, there's got to be a medical ward back here. I want to treat it."

"You don't have medical experience."

"Of course I do." I crossed my arms. "I lived on a farm, John. People got hurt a lot."

"People?"

I flushed. "O-okay, it was more the animals. But that doesn't change anything! I know how to disinfect a wound."

He magnetized his helmet to his thigh. "Will it make you feel better?"

"Hopefully it'll make you feel better too, b-but yes."

He pushed off of the wall. I followed, letting him lead the way through the ship. The wound had mostly scabbed over, but I saw the occasional flake of blood float out into the air.

We made it into the med bay. I skimmed through the supplies, finding the disinfectant. Below the shelves there was a sink. I quickly found a clean washcloth, turning the faucet on.

Catching the water in the rag was...a trip.

John was holding loosely onto a cot, watching with no small degree of amusement. I heard him huff as I once again missed the floating orb of water.

"Glad to see you're entertained." I smiled through an embarrassed blush.

His lips twitched, almost a smile. His eyes were bright.

I used the rag like a net, scooping the water out of the air. From there I worked it into the rag and pushed off of the wall towards John. "Okay, hold still. And...I'm sorry if this hurts."

I dabbed at the wound, pulling away the smeared scabbing. It made it look worse than it was, and it kept me from being able to get the ointment on well. Even so, I winced in sympathy when a particularly big scab pulled off.

John gave no indication that it hurt in any way.

Eventually the bare wound was revealed. It was pretty deep, and it certainly looked painful. Even with his increased healing, it would probably scar.

I ran my thumb along the skin next to the wound. John had been in too many life-threatening situations than someone should ever go through. I'd seen his body; there were more scars than just the surgeries. And those weren't good either, but that was a whole other thing.

John reached up to grab my hand. "What's wrong?"

My brow furrowed. I kept my eyes just shy of his, focusing on the cut. "You're in danger so much."

"I'm safe now."

"No you're not. Life support could cut out any minute."

His other hand came up, running his thumb down my cheek. "We're safe, right now. Not five minutes from now."

I rested my forehead against his, closing my eyes, and whispered, "I'm so scared for you."

He didn't respond. He just wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close to him, and kissed me.

We hadn't kissed much lately; I'd been in a funk, or he'd been busy. _Something_ always came up at just the right time to screw up our personal lives.

But this, right now, was ours.

Whatever happened, five minutes from now or even further down the road, we had right now.

I moved my arms up around his neck, deepening the kiss. When I was with John things didn't seem so bad. Even floating in space, stuck in half a spaceship with little hope of rescue, things were okay. John was here; how could they be bad?

I had to come up for air sometime, though.

I pulled back and rested my forehead against his.

"I love you," I whispered hoarsely.

His voice was just as rough. "I love you too."

I pushed against his chest. "I need to fix your head."

He didn't let me go. "I'm fine."

I didn't protest when he surged forward to kiss me. If I could have, I would have spent forever like this. His lips were soft against mine, his arms keeping me tight to his body. I was safe here. We were safe.

But he was still hurt.

My hand reached out behind me, grasping for the ointment. It was floating just above the counter.

I pulled it around behind John's neck, still kissing him, and unscrewed the top. My hand came back around, prepared to squeeze the tube out onto his wound.

His hand shot up and wrapped around my wrist.

I felt him smile against my lips. "Not yet."

I pulled back and made an amused, but pleading, face. "You're so _obstinate_."

"And?"

His hand was still tight around my wrist. I tried to pull it free to no avail. It was like I hadn't even moved; there was no strain to keep me contained. Just how strong was he?

Was it bad that I kind of liked it?

I relented, resting my head on his shoulder. "I know you're probably fine, but I want to _do_ something. If I- if I keep myself busy, I don't have to think about everything."

He let my wrist go, running his hand down my back. I couldn't feel it through my armor.

"I-I mean, what if no one finds us? Wha-what if we really do d-die out here? We'll just...float. For-forever." I tried to keep the tears down, but it didn't work out very well.

I bit my lip, trying to sort my feelings into words.

"I was okay dying on the Ark. We w- we were saving a lot of people, a-and at least I knew it would be painless. I...I don't want to die, John." Some tears welled up, floating through the air between us.

John moved my head up, taking my chin in his fingers. "We're going to survive this. I promise."

"You can't promise that." I thought about the millions of things that could kill us. The mere space around us. We could run into something that doesn't want to be run into.

His voice was firm. "We'll make it out alive."

"I hope you're right."

**oOOOo**

"Why do we have to take my armor off again?" I was trying to stall. The idea of going into cryosleep terrified me for some reason.

But it had been a month, and no one had come to save us. I had promised John I wouldn't argue. I wanted to, more than anything, but I understood why he wanted to sleep. We would use significantly less resources.

"Anything touching your skin will burn you," John reminded me patiently.

"Oh." I looked down. "So you should take your armor off, too."

"I'll be fine."

"Yeah, you'll be _fine_ out of your armor for awhile. Come on, even SPARTANs aren't immune to freezer burn."

He moved to take my chest piece off. "You can't take my armor off; you're not strong enough."

"I am when I'm in _my_ armor." I crossed my arms to keep him from taking the plating off.

He moved back a bit. "Knock yourself out."

I pushed off the wall, tugging at the clasp on his shoulder. It was more secure than I expected; I ended up bracing my knees on his chest to get enough strength.

John shot me an amused, and exasperated, look.

The clasp popped open, the plating on his chest and back sagging a bit. I quickly pushed around to his other shoulder, repeating the process. I also noticed that his shoulders were broader than my torso was long.

"See?" I pulled the platting off of his back. "I-I can do it."

John didn't say anything. He didn't like the idea of being in cryo without his armor. It would hurt less, sure, but he would be vulnerable.

I was holding onto the hope that we'd be found by someone friendly.

He grabbed his chest piece and I grabbed his back piece, and we stashed them in an empty cryo pod. I turned back around, tugging off the armor on his upper arms. They went in the cryo pod next to his chest piece.

Several minutes later all of his armor was off. It had been tedious, and at times awkward, but I really didn't want him to deal with full-body freezer burn. That sounded painful, and he'd been through enough pain in his life.

He slid his biosuit off, stuffing it into the cryo pod and shutting the door. "Happy?"

I nodded and blushed a bit. "Thank you."

"Your turn." His hand came down, unclasping my chest piece.

I helped him stow the armor as he took it off. He was much quicker in taking mine off, though that could have been because there was less armor overall. Mine wasn't as thick as his either, since I wasn't as strong as him. I wouldn't have been able to stand, even with the armor's assistance, had it been fully proportional.

Before I knew it, I was in my biosuit. I slid it off, pushing it into the cryo pod.

Then I moved to the holotank in the center of the room. "When should it wake us?"

"If someone boards, or six years."

"Got it." I moved into the system and set the parameters.

Hopefully we'd be awakened before six years had passed.

John was staring at my stomach.

"John?" I tilted my head. "What's wrong?"

I glanced down, following his gaze.

There were tiny little scars from my time aboard the Covenant ship all those months ago. On the left side was a thick, inch-long scar from a knife that had been stabbed into my ribs on that same ship. On the right side was a thinner, but longer, surgical scar from where they removed a Covenant tracking chip embedded in my ribs.

All in all, I'd been captured by the Covenant three times.

But John wasn't looking at my scars. He was looking at the little pink stoma on the right side of my stomach.

"Oh, that."

"I haven't seen it before."

"I guess you haven't." I hummed. "It's my small intestine. I can't feel it; there aren't any nerve endings. I forget it's there."

His eyes roamed over my body, taking in every detail. Then, "We should sleep."

"Right." My stomach fell.

This was as terrifying as the surgery to get my arm back. I was going under, relying on fate to bring me back up.

He tipped my chin up. "We'll be okay."

I pushed up from the floor, meeting him in a desperate kiss. I was terrified that this was the last time I would see him.

He felt similarly, even if he was better at squashing the fear down. His arms pulled me close, and I almost rejoiced aloud at the skin-to-skin contact. We'd been in our armor for so long. Too long, if you asked me. And John had been in his for much more time than I'd been in mine.

John looked up at me. "I love you."

He kicked off of the holotank behind me, turning to set me in a cryo pod. I felt so trapped, even if the tube offered a lot of personal space. That lid would close soon, and I would be stuck in here.

I reached up, gripping his hand before he could pull away. "I love you, too, John."

He nodded, squeezing my hand once. Then he pulled back and closed my pod. Before I had a chance to panic - and panic I would - everything grew cold. Faster than I could process, really. I was out in seconds.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Cryosleep sounds terrifying fr**

**I don't really have anything to say but it feels weird not to write anything here because I love talking to you**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Onward, I mumble.

Is it more a tumble? Losing my footing like a helpless child,

I remember times I would happily burn from my mind forever.

Down, down, my mind ever breaks.

It seems almost like a foolish mistake.

But no, I am to blame for my own

Torment

_I_ am at fault,

I can't let go.

I can't let go of those memories,

The monster that cost me my arm

Took something far more precious.

Far more precious, indeed.

For even if he were to drop dead,

Cold and lifeless on the ground,

He'd forever live on in my head.

There, on the ground.

A body.

Not his,

No,

Mine.

He's there, too

Above me.

His foot, bigger than my body, is all on my arm.

He bears down,

He bears down.

I scream

Plead

Howl

But still he continues.

He could kill me.

_Why won't he kill me?!_

My arm shatters,

Fragments of white glass burst forth

Piercing his skin.

He's dead, he's dead.

Is he?

No, he's in a cell.

Held for crimes against

Humanity.

War crimes against

Humanity.

Is he in the cell?

He was.

Where'd he go?

He's gone, he's gone.

Jul 'Mdama

Is gone.

Escaped, they cry, he's escaped.

He escaped his cell, but not his fate.

I have seen his fate.

He may play tough,

But his death is at the hands of a SPARTAN.

Not…

What is that?

Not a SPARTAN II, for sure.

Younger, not even an adult.

Still in armor.

Augmented,

Though he didn't have to watch his brothers and sisters

Die

On the table.

No, they all survived

At the cost of strength and speed.

But, then,

They _are_ cheaper.

They'll see their siblings die,

Don't worry.

Meant to trade

Lives

For Time.

Now, neither side wants

Those lives.

What now?

Black Ops, of course.

Destabilise the Swords,

The Swords of Sanghelios.

The war will have its corpse.

They were never meant to survive!

And they won't.

They won't survive,

They will fall

All of them

Like they were made to.

The doomed SPARTAN IIIs

Must die

To secure his place.

His oversight,

The end of the war,

May cost him everything.

Not if they all die,

Of course,

Then he'll be secure.

He'll be secure with only his

NOBLE Team

To represent six hundred

Misled and grieving orphans.

Noble, indeed.

A Noble cause, a Noble death.

But at the hands of whom?

The enemy, or the one who fabricated the former?

In wartime, the UNSC has emergency military governance.

We can't give that up.

So we'll make a new war.

Oh, you selfish fools,

You've no idea the wars

Coming for you.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Okay yk how people dream in cryosleep because they're unconscious? I got this idea for Tawny to have prophetic dreams through the Domain. They're hella vague, as the Domain tends to be, but yee this is Tawny's cryo-dream!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

I was so cold. So, so cold. Like there was a layer of ice over my body, needling into my skin.

I pulled into myself, my arms around my body, and shivered.

Why was it _so_ cold?

Why was I weightless?

I opened my eyes, looking around. I was in a tube. I barely had three feet to move in any direction.

Hey, I was getting warmer.

Oh, yeah, cryo sleep. I'd been in cryo sleep with John. We were floating, out in the middle of nowhere, hoping for rescue.

We were awake now.

It would only wake us up if someone had boarded the remains of the ship. So that meant someone was aboard right now. We weren't alone in here. Someone had found us!

Unless six years had passed, of course.

I pushed against the glass door. I could see the cryo bay, but I couldn't get out.

Wasn't this door supposed to open on its own?

A thrill of fear slid down my spine; was I trapped in here? Was John trapped in his own tube?

I wanted to _get out_.

To my left, I saw a cryo pod open. John had gotten out, thank god. He floated over to me.

I pressed my hands against the still-cold glass. "I-I can't open it."

I didn't know if he could hear me or not, but he must have known what I meant. He pressed a button on the pod's panel and my door hissed open.

I pushed myself out, floating into his arms. He was cold, too, but he was warming up.

My finger hurt, I noticed. I had a garnet ring around the middle finger of my right hand, it had been a gift from my grandmother several years ago. I didn't want to risk losing it; freezer burn was worth it.

I pressed my face into John's chest. "We're okay."

He wrapped his arms around me, glad to be awake. "How long were we out?"

"I don't know." I floated towards the holotank, pushing my mind into the ship's system. My heart sunk. "It's June tenth...2534. Two years, seven months, and five days. That's...that's a long time."

"We need to find out who's on board."

"Right." I floated over to the cryo pods that we'd stored our armor in.

I tugged my biosuit on in sync with John, though he got his on quicker. I found it hard to maneuver in the zero gravity, and I ended up entirely upside down to John.

I looked down - up? - at him. "Who do you think it is?"

I was personally hoping it was someone from the UNSC. Maybe they'd sent someone to find us?

I knew, though, that it wasn't. Something was whispering to me...whoever was onboard, they weren't friendly.

John sensed it, too. "We need to get ready. Then we can find out."

As he spoke he helped me put my armor on. I would have to help him with his, and I wasn't strong enough to do it on my own. He, of course, had no problems putting my armor on with his bare hands.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous.

When I was all armored up I magnetized my helmet to my thigh and set to work suiting him.

It was, again, a very tedious process. Everything had to be put on just right, or it wouldn't work properly. Fortunately, John knew where everything went.

When he was armored up he said, "We need to get to the observation deck. We can see who's boarding us there."

He stuck a rifle to his back as he spoke. Then he loaded his handgun.

I didn't want to have to fight, but I knew it was inevitable. We weren't being boarded by friendlies.

The ship rattled. A bright orange wall of light moved through the room, scanning everything. From the sound of things, it had scanned the entire ship.

"What was that?" John's voice was uncharacteristically unnerved.

"I don't know." I pressed closer to John. "B-but it was Forerunner."

He nodded. "I felt it too. Can you turn on the gravity?"

"Not at the same time as life support."

"Get your helmet on, we need to move."

I nodded, pulling the dark blue helmet over my head. Then I accessed the ship's system, turning off life support and turning on the gravity. An emotionless voice informed the whole ship that the air wouldn't be breathable for more than a few minutes.

After that happened, our suits would automatically switch to rebreathing. We would be fine.

The gravity came on next. I landed harshly on my butt, wincing at both the pain and the loud metal _clang_.

John landed lithely on his feet. "Are you alright?"

I nodded. It was weird to feel gravity again, but not unwelcome.

He stepped towards the door. "Let's go. Where's the observation deck?"

I closed my eyes and felt around the ship. "I-it's four floors up, right above us."

We moved together out into the hall. I was reaching out for any living things nearby, and John had his handgun out. He was ready to unload it at a moment's notice.

We walked through several hallways. There was a sealed door in front of us.

John tilted his head. "We need to go up."

I held a hand out. "Want me to open it?"

He nodded.

My mind slid in between the doors, shoving them apart. We were sucked abruptly into the shaft, towards endless space. It had been cut open, it wasn't pressurized.

John grabbed a stray pipe, throwing his hand out beneath him. He couldn't reach me, but he did surround me in ultrasound. I looked up at him, straining to keep me from flying out into space, and back down the shaft.

I really didn't want to fall.

I used my own powers to push myself onto the wall, and took hold of a stray piece of metal.

"I'm okay," I called up in a shaking voice.

He released his hold on me, and I forced myself to climb up to him. Maybe we should have left the gravity off.

Debris rained down on us, heavy and unforgiving, as we climbed up.

John grunted. "The observation deck is right above us."

"Good." My arms were shaking with the effort to pull myself up. "What then?"

He didn't respond.

When we reached the level of the observation deck, he held a hand out. "Step on."

I did, letting him hoist me up through the doorway. When I was standing on solid ground I turned to watch him pull himself up. He stood to his full height, placing a hand on my shoulder.

There was someone behind us, full of wrath and bloodlust. My heart dropped. "John!"

John turned just in time to see a massive Sangheili charging us. He shoved me away, further into the hallway, and met the Sangheili head on. He punched the alien across the face and threw him down into the shaft.

I could hear the Sangheili's screams as he was pulled out into space.

John turned back to me. "I thought we had a truce with the Covenant."

"So did I." My heart was thumping heavily in my chest.

"He's probably not alone."

"Oh, he's definitely not. There." I pointed to the observation deck, where we needed to be. "Covenant."

He checked his handgun. "Stay behind me."

I nodded, letting him take the lead into the observation deck. It was a massive, open room with a staircase leading to the observatory controls right in front of us. To the left and right were staircases leading down, into the more open main area of the deck.

On the control bridge was a Sangheili, with various Unggoy and Kig Yar in the main part of the room. None of them saw us as we crept up the staircase.

John walked up behind the Sangheili, stabbing him in the throat and tossing him to the ground. A small collection of Unggoy opened fire on us from below. I turned, throwing my hands out, and sent them flying with a pulse.

John turned to the left side of the platform, firing down on the Covenant soldiers over there. He threw himself down and kicked an Unggoy so hard his neck snapped.

He turned without missing a beat, stabbing through a Kig Yar's neck from the side and slicing around to the front.

I splintered my mind, invading all of the soldiers to the right of the platform. With a single jerk, they all died. As instantly and painlessly as possible; I did what I could to ease my guilt.

John walked back up, having taken care of all the Covenant soldiers on his side. "They aren't outfitted like standard military."

I tried to hide my wince as my elbow moved. It wasn't hurt...any more than normal.

"So maybe the Covenant really _did_ collapse," I offered as I worked my elbow.

John pressed a button on the control panel, lifting the blast shields. The massive floor-to-ceiling windows revealed an entire Covenant fleet in front of us.

My heart fell. "Oh, my god. Or maybe they didn't."

"Maybe they haven't recognized us," John suggested.

I pointed. "I hope they do soon."

There were Phantoms soaring towards us. I had a hand on John's back, pressing myself against him. What if they attacked us?

Something was telling me this wasn't just a rogue group of loyalists.

The room depressurized for a moment as the landing craft stabbed their proboscis-like tunnels into the windows on either side of us. As soon as its doors slid open, John launched a grenade into the tunnel on our left.

With the majority of the troops on that side incapacitated, he turned his attention to the right side. His rifle was out, mowing through them.

My head shot up. "I need- wait!"

"What?"

I watched as the last soldier died. "Nevermind."

I'd been hoping to see what their deal was, but I couldn't enter the mind of a dead man.

Wait. They weren't all dead. There was a Sangheili...right beside John!

I scrambled around John, shooting my hand out and wrapping around the Sangheili. He flickered into view, hissing down at me.

"What do you want with us?" My voice was hard.

"**The Didact's Hand shall have Requiem, not the humans."**

I tightened my fist, making it uncomfortably tight around him. "**What is the Didact's Hand?"**

He growled, trying to break free.

I closed my eyes and needled into his mind. If he wouldn't tell me, I would find out on my own. I didn't like barging in on peoples' minds, but I also didn't like not knowing what was happening.

My eyes shot open and I sent him flying back into the wall. His body broke against it, I'd thrown him so hard.

I stumbled back, fighting my terror. "'Mdama."

"What?" John's hand was on my shoulder. "What is it?"

"Jul 'Mdama." I struggled to keep the whimper out of my voice. "He's...there's a new Covenant under Jul 'Mdama."

"What are they doing here?"

I struggled to even out my breathing. I'd faced 'Mdama, yes, but I'd been running on anger and a healthy lack of sleep. And he'd been behind bars.

To know that he was running free, and in charge of the new Covenant no less, was deeply disturbing.

I forced myself to focus. John had asked a question, and he needed an answer. "He said, 'The Didact's Hand will have this planet.' B-but I don't know what that means. We must be near a planet, a-and from the sound of things, it's Forerunner."

He looked back at the viewport, where the Covenant fleet could be seen. "Are any of the ship-to-ship defenses working?"

"I can check." I looked up at him. "What a- what are we going to do?"

He ran his hand down my arm. "What we have to."

I ignored the dread in my gut, grabbing John's hand and closing my eyes. I entered the ship's mainframe, scanning the defenses.

"Okay." I opened my eyes. "There's something called an M4093 Hyperion nuclear delivery system. They're not destroyed, but I can't fire them from here. There should be a place to fire them in the missile bay."

He slid his rifle onto his back and pulled out his sidearm, keeping one hand around mine. "Let's go."

We walked back out into the hallway.

He turned towards an elevator shaft on our left, opposite the depressurized one we'd climbed through. "Is this one safe?"

"I-I can't tell." I reached out, anyways, just to see if I could. "It's still got power, so maybe."

He stepped forward, pressing the button. Sure enough, the doors slid open. It was an intact, pressurized elevator.

He jerked his head. "Come on."

We climbed in, and I set it to take us to one of the lower levels.

My breathing was shaky as I leaned back against the wall. "This planet...something's going to happen. Something big."

"Any idea what?"

"I don't think it's going to be good."

John straightened up as the elevator stopped. "Me, either."

Something was there, around the corner. I reached out, barely managing to brush his arm.

"John," I whispered harshly.

"What is it?"

"Sangheili."

He tensed, almost imperceptibly. "Where?"

I closed my eyes. "Down the hallway, to the left. Two Sangheili and an Unggoy."

He crept down the hallway. It was empty. There was a door, at the end and to the left.

He jerked his head towards it and made a circle in the air with his hand. It was a silent question, a language few outside of the SPARTAN ranks understood. He was asking, _Are they in there?_

I nodded.

He pulled a small grenade out, activating it, and let the door open. Before the Covenant soldiers could react, he'd rolled the grenade towards them and ducked back behind the door frame.

The explosion shook the floor. I felt all of the soldiers die as soon as it went off; at least none of them suffered too badly.

John glanced around the corner. "Come on."

I kept my eyes up, away from the dead soldiers. Knowing the Sangheili, the Unggoy had been forced into servitude once more. And now this one was dead.

There was nothing I could do. Forced or not, the Unggoy would just as readily kill us. We couldn't let that happen.

If it came down to them or us, I would make sure it was us who walked out.

We made our way down a set of stairs. There was another Sangheili and a squad of Unggoy. John pulled out his rifle, shooting a spray of bullets at the Sangheili.

I noticed an Unggoy running towards us, two active grenades in his hands. I threw my hand out, snapping his neck and surrounding his body in a bubble. When the grenades went off, they stayed inside the bubble.

I released the sphere when the explosion died down, turning my attention to an Unggoy firing his gun at us. A large pulse rippled from my hand, slamming him and three others into the wall with enough force to break their necks.

John shot an Unggoy through the skull, piercing his methane mask in the process. As the soldier fell, the last soldier, he turned to me. "How close are we?"

I pulled up a holographic map of the ship on the palm of my hand. It zoomed in, showing us where we were. I illuminated a blue pathway to the missile bay, on the outer hull. We only had one more room to get through.

"It's not very far, but…" I then illuminated the placement of every Covenant soldier on the ship.

There was a host of little red dots in the room in front of us. Beyond them, in the missile bay, were even more.

"We can take them," John insisted.

"I hope so." I let the hologram fizz out and clasped my hands together nervously. "Because, I-I feel like this is just the beginning."

"I think you're right."

I really hoped I wasn't right. Even though I knew it was several years ago, the battle on Installation 00 felt like only a month ago. I was growing weary of combat.

So was John, and he'd seen much more of it than me.

We walked down into a large room. There was a walkway going around the rounded room in the center, almost like a roundabout on a road. Inside the middle room was a large group of Unggoy, which we could see through the glass walls. John aimed his rifle.

"Wait," I whispered, reaching up to touch his wrist. "There are three Sangheili on the other side of the walkway. They don't know we're here yet."

He ran a few quick calculations. "Can you handle the Grunts?"

I nodded.

"Good." He jogged to the left, towards the Elites, and pulled his rifle off of his back.

My attention turned to the Unggoy. They noticed John loping past and scrambled for the doorways, trying to shoot him down. I couldn't let that happen.

I reached my hand out, blowing three guns out of three hands. Their attention turned to me as John engaged a pair of Sangheili.

Plasma fire right towards my head. I ducked under it, throwing my hand towards the Unggoy. They all fell backwards as a massive shockwave hit them. I ran over to the nearest doorway into the room, invading the mind of the Unggoy nearest me.

He ran in front of me, shielding me from any plasma bullets that could come my way. The others refused to fire on their brother, so neither of us were injured.

There was a brief standoff, during which I could hear gunfire from John's rifle. It was clear even over my rapid heartbeat.

I closed my eyes, splintering my mind, and sent all of the Unggoy to sleep. I tried, but I couldn't bring myself to kill them. I'd killed enough.

Just as they collapsed, almost all at once, I heard something behind me. My hand shot out, wrapping ultrasound around the soldier. It was the third and final Sangheili.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: It felt like so much longer than a week for some reason? Idek anymore my sense of time is screwed lol.**

**Anywho I love all of you so much!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

The Sangheili flickered into sight, snarling down at me. He was suspended in the air, completely helpless, and he knew it.

I walked up to him, my hand up in a fist to keep him still. "What is the Didact's Hand after?"

"**I do not speak to human filth."**

"And yet here you are, speaking to me." My voice was harsh to hide the fear.

He growled again. "**You are dirt, and we shall walk upon your remains when we tread the Path."**

I pushed my queasiness aside, made a fist, and twisted it sharply to break his neck.

"What did he say?" John asked.

I turned to face him as the body dropped to the floor. "No-nothing we didn't already know. I...I don't think any of them really know w-why they're here."

"The missile bay is close." He was ever focused.

I nodded and took a breath. "Right through that airlock, actually."

We walked together into the airlock. The missile bay wasn't pressurized even when the ship was whole, so the safety measure was a necessity.

"John...you know it's full of Covenant, right?" I asked quietly.

John shoved a fresh magazine in his rifle. "I know."

"Just-just making sure."

He placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. Then he straightened up, entirely a soldier again. "Open the door."

I nodded, sending my mind into the ship's systems once more. The airlock behind us sealed shut, and the door in front of us opened. We were weightless, floating through the air.

Well, I was. John had immediately magnetized his boots to the floor.

I pushed myself back down with a wave of ultrasound and activated my boots' magnets, looking over the missile bay.

We were up on a platform. Below us was the main part of the bay, full of Covenant soldiers. Mainly Unggoy and Kig Yar, though I did see several Sangheili.

Beyond the missile bay, beyond the Covenant fleet, was a huge metal planet. I felt it calling to me immediately.

"Oh, wow," I breathed. "Requiem."

"Requiem?"

I looked up at John, realizing what I'd said. "Requiem...John, that's what the Sangheili said in the observation deck! H-he must have meant this planet."

"It's a shield world." John walked over to a weapons pod and restocked on ammo. "Maybe they're after another Forerunner fleet."

"We can't let that happen."

"Where are the missile controls?"

I reached out. They were above us, on the left side of the room. We would have to make our way through pretty much the entire Covenant company to reach them.

"O-oh...great." I sighed.

"What?"

"They're...they're all the way over there." I pointed up to the controls.

John looked up at it, then down to the hoard of soldiers. His rifle was pointed down at a fresh squad of Unggoy, who'd just been dropped off by a Phantom.

He was perfectly calm. "Ready?"

I nodded, holding a hand out.

"Now." John opened fire on the Unggoy, taking several of them out. Their bodies floated lifelessly through the air.

I crushed the Phantom, sending it crashing into a collection of Unggoy and Kig Yar. A Sangheili got caught in the wreckage, too, and died with the rest.

John shoved himself off of the platform. "I'll clear the way. Get to the controls."

"Got it." I ran ahead of him, through the Covenant soldiers.

They fired at me when they got the chance, but that was a rarity. John was behind me, shooting down any immediate threats. Those who got too close, even despite his bullets, were shoved back by a pulse from my hands.

I ran up a ramp, taking out three Kig Yar who were in my way. I could see John at the base of the ramp, ducking under the shot from a sniper.

He saw me pause and yelled, "Don't stop!"

I bit my lip; I didn't want to let him get hurt, but the missile needed to be activated.

He moved from his cover, taking the Kig Yar down in a single shot.

He turned back to me. "Go!"

Okay, he was safe. And I'd done _nothing_ to help him.

Well, I'd be helping both of us by activating this missile.

I walked up to the control board, pressing the button to fire it.

John was behind me. "I told you to keep going."

"I know." I looked down. "I'm sorry, I-I just wanted to-"

A loud screech cut me off. Metal on metal.

John's head shot up. "The blast door must be stuck."

He was right; I could see the missile below us, across the bay, and I could see the blast door trying to seal. Trying desperately to fire.

John vaulted over the half-wall, falling all the way to the ground. It must have been thirty feet.

Of course, in the zero gravity, he was perfectly okay. I suspected he would have been fine in normal gravity too.

He sprinted across the missile bay and up to the missile. His hand shot out and a massive pulse rippled through the air. It shoved against the blast door, forcing it down into position.

As the missile fired through space I disengaged the magnets in my boots and floated over to him.

The missile found its mark, destroying the nearest ship. They must have had their shields down, or it would have been harmless.

I glanced up at John as I engaged the magnets once more. "N-now what?"

Something massive rippled. John felt it the same time I did; something in the planet had shifted. Not physical. Something...else.

Abruptly, from the surface of the metal planet, a beam of orange light erupted. It scanned both of us.

I stumbled back, watching as it coated my body in orange light.

"John?" I whimpered.

Part of the planet seemed to...open. Pieces of the metal that fitted together like slices of pie, suddenly opening up like a giant, mechanical flower. And it was pulling everything nearby into it.

"John!" I grabbed his wrist.

He turned, running through the launch bay with my wrist firmly in his grasp. "Where are the closest escape pods?"

It was hard to access the ship's system and run at the same time. It took me most of the length of the launch bay, but I did it.

"The vehicle bay," I panted. "There are escape pods in the vehicle bay."

"Tag it." His voice was level, even though he was sprinting.

I closed my eyes and put a navpoint on John's HUD, directing him towards the escape pods.

We were forced to pause as we entered another airlock, near where we'd originally entered.

John looked down at me. "We're going to make it."

I didn't say anything, knowing whatever I had to say would be pessimistic. We were in a ship that was already falling apart, speeding for the surface of an unknown planet.

John may have been raised to succeed no matter what, but I wasn't. Failure _was_ an option for me, one I experienced often. In this case, however, failure was death.

I could feel the _Dawn_ shaking around us. It threatened to knock me off of my feet.

The internal door to the airlock hissed open. An announcement came over the ship's speaker. "Hull integrity at 30%."

We rushed out into the hall. John had his handgun out, prepared to shoot should the need arise. Not that it would; any Covenant soldiers we met would probably be trying to escape just as desperately as us.

As we turned down another hallway the same emotionless voice said, "Warning. System depressurization. Please proceed to the nearest lifestation. Hull integrity at 25%"

The floor in the hallway behind us caved in. We'd just barely made it through in time.

I felt my heart palpitating, but I didn't say anything. That would slow us down, and we had to _get out of here_.

"Hull integrity at 20%"

Explosions and structural collapses plagued our way. I was praying we wouldn't get crushed by a falling ceiling before we made it to the vehicle bay. It could happen at any time; we had no way of knowing it was coming.

The floor below us could collapse. The floor above us could collapse. We could be too late, and get torn apart by Requiem's atmosphere.

"Hull integrity at 15%."

I whimpered as John put on more speed. I knew he'd been holding himself back so I could keep up, and he was doing that less and less as the situation deteriorated.

I floated up into the air, where I actually stood a chance of keeping up with him, and shoved my terror down. I could freak out later; freaking out now could get both of us killed.

"Hull integrity at 10%"

We were in another hallway. Almost there; so, so close. There was a Sangheili, limping down the hall. A small squad of Unggoy running desperately ahead.

None of us wanted to fight each other at that moment, but we didn't want to help each other either.

Well, the desolate Sangheili did tug at my heartstrings.

But I could feel his hatred for us, even if it was on the back burner. Any other time, he would gladly have driven his energy sword through our hearts.

"Hull integrity at 5%"

John shoved the Unggoy out of the way as he ran. I followed from a few inches in the air, whispering prayers under my breath. My entire body was tense; it was very possible that we would die horrible, flame-filled deaths.

The system's emotionless voice rang out once again. "Personnel are advised to evacuate immediately."

The vehicle bay was at the end of the hallway to our left, behind a doorway. John reached it, his hand moving towards the door controls.

The system chimed, "Warning. Catastrophic depressurization."

The doors in front of us got sucked out into the intense vacuum. John grabbed the doorframe, but my untethered body hit him and we both went flying.

Faster than I could hope to process, he'd grabbed both my wrist and the guardrail. His hand was painfully tight around my wrist. Not that I was going to complain; he'd just saved my life.

The guardrail was the only thing keeping us from the intense suction of the gravity well, and in extension the hot and merciless atmosphere of Requiem.

I gripped his wrist with my free hand. "Don't let go!"

He didn't let go.

The guardrail did, though.

It broke off, releasing us into space. I screamed even as I tightened my hand around John; we could _not_ get split up.

There were massive chunks of the ship all around us. If we hit one...it wouldn't be good. Painful, gory, but definitely not good.

John pulled me close, latching an arm around my back, and kicked us away from a piece of debris several times bigger than either of us.

I was looking out towards the planet. "John!"

He turned just in time to see the massive slab hurtling towards us. Right towards us. There was no way to kick it aside.

His body was suddenly curled around mine, prepared to take the brunt of the hit.

It would probably kill him, or at least hurt him badly.

I brought my arms up around his back as best as I could and closed my eyes. A bubble of ultrasound surrounded us just in time, and the slab crumbled around it.

I winced as another jagged piece of debris dragged itself along the bubble. I would have to ignore the pain; our only chance of surviving was this bubble.

Maybe, if fate was feeling fortuitous, it would keep us alive through our free fall all the way from orbit.

Suddenly, I felt the strength of the bubble grow. It wasn't my doing.

John, who was still curled around me, was also lending his strength to the protective shield.

We could make it together. Our combined strength was immense; we would almost certainly survive the fall.

It would hurt like a bitch, but we would survive.

Chunks of destroyed ships battered at the shield as we fell, but neither of us were willing to release the shield. It hurt, but it was better than dying. It certainly hurt less than actually getting hit by the debris.

We were coming ever closer to the outer layer of the shield world. So close, we could see the cloudy atmosphere beneath.

We were about to fall through the hole.

When we hit the atmosphere I could _feel_ it burning at our protective shield. I cried out, gritting my teeth against the pain. I could feel John tense around me; it was hurting him just as badly as it was hurting me.

I kept my arms around him, pressing my helmet tight against his chest. We _had_ to keep the shield up. We would die if it collapsed.

John was stalwart even through the pain. His strength never wavered, and his steadiness helped me stay strong.

This wasn't just to protect me; John was relying on me just as I was relying on him. If I gave up now…

I wouldn't.

Something slammed into us from above; a chunk of a Covenant ship. I groaned, trying desperately to keep the shield up. My strength flickered, increasing the strain on John.

No, I wouldn't leave him to do this alone.

I took a deep breath, forcing the shield to stay up. We were out of the initial atmosphere, so flames no longer surrounded us. That was good.

I felt John's fear, strong and sharp. My head twisted and I saw a massive fragment of metal rushing towards us. It was on a direct collision course; there was no way around it.

My arms tightened further around John, who returned the favor.

It crushed into the shield, cracking on its way. My strength completely cut out. Without my help John's hold wavered, the shield falling for a moment.

I tried desperately to force it up again. Over John's shoulder, I could see another chunk of debris spinning towards us.

Before I could even open my mouth to warn John, it slammed into his back. The impact jarred both of us, and my vision immediately cut out.

When it restored we were still falling.

And John's mind was empty; he was unconscious.

The ground was only a _few hundred feet below us_.

I wrapped even tighter around John and made another bubble just in time.

The impact jarred both my body and my mind; we went tumbling through jagged, burning debris that littered the ground.

When the bubble stilled, by a massive wall of charred metal, I let it dissipate. I was breathing hard, still wrapped around John beneath me.

A slab of metal crashed next to us. I didn't get the chance to scream before an explosive shockwave sent us flying.

We slid to a stop a few hundred feet away. We were...fine?

My thoughts were so distant. I couldn't grab them. They were like fleeting whisps.

Whisp...what a strange word.

Then my body went limp again.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! For some reason, this felt like a hella long week. Idk, did it feel long to you?**

**Anywho...I'M ALMOST DONE WRITING THE FOURTH BOOK! GUYS I AM IN DISBELIEF! I DIDN'T THINK I WOULD WRITE THIS MUCH, HOLY CANOLI! I have sO much planned for Tawny lmao you guys are gonna love it (I promise)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

I was sore again. My chest felt bruised. My left shoulder felt like it would pop if I moved it.

There was something important. I couldn't...I couldn't remember what. It was in the back of my head; something I had to do.

The ground underneath me shifted.

Then it groaned.

It wasn't the ground at all. John was below me, just waking up. His fingers twitched, tensing into a fist. "Tawny?"

I slid off of him, sitting on the ground. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Are you?" He pushed himself upright and cupped the side of my helmet.

I nodded and picked up his rifle, which had fallen beside us. It was large and awkward in my hands as I held it up to him.

He took it and checked the ammo.

I looked around. We were surrounded by burning wreckage; the Covenant fleet had been torn apart by the planet's atmosphere. The remains of the ships towered above us, creating mazes and caverns in their smoking depths.

"Where...where are we?" I winced as my shoulder clicked.

John pushed to his feet. "Somewhere on the surface."

He offered his hand.

I took it, pulling myself to my feet. "Are you sure you're okay?"

He'd been hit pretty hard. And I'd landed on top of him; that couldn't have helped the situation.

"I'm alright. Come on, we can't stay here." He turned to face a random direction.

I pushed my own soreness down, following him through the skeletons of the once-great ships. A Phantom flew overhead.

"Maybe...we should follow those," I suggested, "if they're after Forerunner ships. W-we can't let them get to them."

John nodded and changed our course.

We made our way through a barren, stripped hallway that had once been part of a Covenant ship. There was a Sangheili ahead of us, limping heavily. He had one hand on his ribs, the other around a small plasma pistol.

He aimed it at us weakly, but before he could fire it his legs collapsed.

I closed my eyes. "He's dying."

John looked back at me, impatient to keep moving.

I turned to face the fallen soldier, who was panting weakly on the ground. "**I'm so sorry."**

"**I do not...seek...your pity."** He gasped as some injury twinged. "**Worm."**

I felt the life leave his body.

A heavy sigh deflated my body. "That's it, then."

This once-great soldier was gone. Killed senselessly. Uselessly.

"Tawny."

I reached up to grab John's hand. "I know."

We had to keep going. We couldn't stop because one person - our enemy, no less - had died.

We reached a steep dropoff, from the broken ledge of a spaceship to the sandy bottom of a canyon. I floated up into the air and turned to face John. He glanced up at me and then jumped down, landing fifteen feet beneath me.

I landed beside him, running the back of my hand down his forearm.

"We need a way off this planet."

"We can take a Forerunner ship," I offered. "That's what they're after. We'll keep them from getting them, a-and take one home."

He nodded. "We'll have to fight our way through."

I held back a sigh; we had to fight so much. Couldn't we, for once, face an opponent who would be reasoned with?

We continued through the canyons of Requiem. Something pinged, a small alert popping up on my HUD.

I paused. "John, did you catch that?"

"I heard it."

"It looked like a comm. I-I couldn't make out what they were saying."

"Can you tell who it is?"

I shook my head. "No, it's really weak. For it to find us, though...i-it might be UNSC."

"Let's not make assumptions."

"I know. But if it is, we might have an easier way home."

John lapsed into thoughtful silence. "Can you triangulate it's position?"

I slowed a bit. "I...maybe. I-I'll need to sit still to do it, though."

"We're not safe here. Let's get somewhere secure first."

I nodded in agreement.

We walked over a hilltop, through a stone archway, and I found a massive Forerunner structure. It covered the entire valley beneath us, with a series of massive floating towers high above.

"Wow." My voice was soft. "This is beautiful."

John was silent, staring up at the floating towers. They pierced through the clouds, disappearing from sight.

I felt the Domain trying to swell around us. It was weak here. Still there, just below conscious perception, but muted.

"Look." John nodded to our left. "A warthog."

I grinned. "Can I drive?"

"You need to triangulate that signal."

"Oh, right."

He walked up to the warthog. It was laying on its side, but whole. He put one hand under the side and shoved it back onto its wheels.

Holy Jesus, that was impressive. I was glad John couldn't hear _my_ thoughts, because they were entirely inappropriate for the situation and making me blush.

I climbed up into the passenger side, taking a breath, and forced myself to focus. As John shoved it into first gear I closed my eyes and pulled up the transmission.

It was _hard_ to focus, with the hog's roar and the bumpy road, but I did the best I could. The transmission was incredibly weak; I still couldn't even make out who sent it.

It was a complete dead end.

My eyes opened, and I leaned back in the seat. "It's hopeless."

John cocked his head towards me a bit, an indication he was listening,

"It's too weak. I-it's barely strong enough to reach us, let alone give us any information."

Then, just as I was about to call it a lost cause, another transmission came through. Slightly stronger, but still much too weak to be useful.

I perked up. "You-you saw that, right?"

"It was stronger that time."

I nodded. "So maybe I can get something from it."

My eyes once again closed. I prodded at the signal, trying to follow it back to its source. I wasn't sure if it was a transmission from the UNSC, but it didn't feel like it was Covenant at least.

I didn't want to say it was friendly, not for sure, but it probably was.

"We've got a problem," John said.

I opened my eyes. "What?"

"Look." He tilted his head.

There, in the valley ahead of us, was a Covenant encampment. Crawling with soldiers.

I put a hand on John's shoulder. "I drive, you shoot?"

He nodded.

We stopped behind a large boulder, and John leaped out of the warthog. He climbed up on the gun in a smooth motion.

I slid over into his seat, stretching my toes in an attempt to reach the pedals. "I forget how tall you are sometimes."

"I forget how short you are," he fired back smoothly.

My head snapped around to face him, a bit of a grin on my face. "Rude."

He moved the gun around. "Let's move."

"Oh, yeah." I grabbed the handle under the seat, moving it forward. When I could actually _reach_ the clutch I pushed it in, moving the gear shift to first, and let it out.

We rushed down into the valley, taking the Covenant troops completely by surprise. I heard an Unggoy scream in shock a moment before John pumped him full of lead.

We stayed in second gear, which was low enough to be maneuverable but fast enough to keep us safe from the hail storm of plasma sent our way.

I dodged behind a boulder as a Kig Yar sent a barrage of needler crystals towards us.

As soon as we were out of the cover John forced the gun up, taking the sniper out. His corpse fell from the floating platform he was on, landing harshly on the ground.

I saw the air ripple off to the left. "John, there's a Sangheili beside that boulder!"

John spun the gun around and let loose a flood of bullets. The Sangheili rippled into view just in time for his shields to fail. I turned my head away as his body spasmed.

He was the last soldier; we'd killed them all.

I looked up, over the canyon walls, to a Forerunner tower ahead. There was a pathway that looked like it went in that direction.

John moved to sit beside me, shaking the warthog when his weight settled in the passenger seat. "That looks like the right way."

"You know it's...it's going to be crowded."

"I know."

I pulled my helmet off, looking up at him with watery green eyes. "I wish we didn't have to fight."

"It's not up to us." His voice was steady, but I could feel how much he wished the same.

But, at the same time, he didn't. Fighting was all he knew; both a fear-filled danger and his comfort zone. He _knew_ fighting. He didn't really know much else.

Once again, grief at his horrible life filled me.

My head fell against his arm with a _thunk_. "You're right. We can't let them get the ships."

His hand moved over my head, tugging on a loose strand of hair. "We should move."

"I don't think the warthog will fit in there." I looked over to the pathway through the canyon. It was narrow, too narrow for the hog to comfortably fit.

John climbed out, pulling his rifle down. "Then we'll walk."

I landed harshly on the ground, holding my helmet to my chest.

"I don't like this," I said as we walked towards the pathway. "Something feels...off."

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! Sorry if this is a bit later than usual; I'm in a different time zone and it's messing up my alarms. And I have a research paper due in three days and I haven't finished reading the source material yet. Lol I'll (probably) be fine I just like venting here where none of you know me IRL.**

**Anywho, I love all of you! You're all so amazing!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

The pathway through the canyon was very cramped. At times it was only possible for us to walk single file, instead of side by side.

"So," I pushed up to another ledge on the pathway, "how are we supposed to get the Covenant away from the fleet without destroying it?"

John held out his hand to help me. "Thought we'd try shooting them."

"How original." I took his hand and pulled myself up next to him. "Thank you."

He straightened up, facing the Forerunner structure. We were at the end of the path, and it opened up into yet another valley. Beyond the valley was the structure, scarcely a few hundred feet away.

But, between us and the structure, there was an entire Covenant company. Sangheili, Kig Yar, Unggoy, you name it.

"John, there's even more in the tower," I whispered.

"Get your helmet-"

He broke off, tackling me to the ground. He rolled in the air so that we both landed on his back, then so that he was between me and the enemy-filled valley. Then he immediately laid out over a stone and took aim.

I didn't understand why until I smelled something sulfuric, and realized that the skin on the right side of my face was uncomfortably warm. A sniper had shot at me with a needler round, and he'd just barely missed.

If John hadn't shoved me down he would have shot me through the head.

I scrambled back, my heart beating up an ugly rhythm as my stomach twisted; I'd almost _died_. The shard would have gone right through my face.

My fingers tore through my hair - the hair on the right side was burned, and still warm - as my back hit the stone wall behind me.

John was laying over a stone, shooting down as many soldiers as he could in a vengeance.

When he'd taken down as many as his rifle could reach, he turned to face me. "Are you alright?"

His gloved hand was cold on my cheek.

I struggled to keep my breathing steady. If he hadn't been there…

I screwed my eyes shut. "I'm fine."

His thumb smeared a tear that was making its way down my face. "Are you sure?"

"I-I'm fine. We need- we have to stop them."

He took my helmet from the ground beside me, sliding it over my head. "I won't let them hurt you."

I grabbed his hand. "Please don't let yourself get hurt. Please."

He pulled me to my feet. "Come on."

He couldn't promise me that, and we both knew it. That truth hung over me, serving to make me feel even worse as we walked down.

We moved into the valley together. Most of the Covenant soldiers had been killed, and those who hadn't were quickly acquainted with several bullets. I tried to fight a few, but I couldn't seem to focus. I couldn't stop thinking about how wrong things could have gone.

I could feel the singed hair. It was only a few inches long; just long enough to fall into my eye. Like a bad pair of bangs, but only on the right. The blackened ends served to remind me how close I'd come to death.

John tossed his rifle aside, having used up all of his ammo, and grabbed an alien rifle from a fallen Sangheili. "How many are in the structure?"

I gazed up at the structure. It was a tower, with two ramps on either side for us to enter. A large open balcony, with another ramp in the center that led even further into the tower.

My eyes closed, and I reached out. "A lot. At least ten Unggoy, and seven Kig Yar. There's only one Sangheili."

"Take the Elite. I'll handle the rest."

I nodded, trying to prepare myself. Get myself back in the mindset of a warrior.

"Right," I whispered. "I can do that."

"Let me know if you can't."

My gaze fell. "I can. I'm...I've got this."

He placed a hand on my shoulder, running it down my arm. For a brief moment it was like we were alone. Safe. With nothing to worry about but each other.

Then he turned to face the tower. "Let's go."

We climbed up the ramp. I pointed. "Three Kig Yar around the corner."

John checked the ammo in his strange green rifle. "Get to the Elite. I'll cover you."

"Okay." I set off.

As I rounded the corner the Kig Yar opened fire.

A short pulse sent them tumbling back. I heard John's rifle tearing through them as I turned left once more and up a ramp.

In the room at the top were four Unggoy and three Kig Yar. I splintered my mind and killed all of the Covenant soldiers there.

Including a Sangheili. The invisible foe fell to the ground a mere two feet from me. An energy sword clattered out of his hand; he'd been about to assassinate me.

I picked up the sword. It was so big, I could use both hands to pick it up and have room to spare on the handle. When I ignited it, a massive blade of plasma came to life. It was almost as tall as me.

I wouldn't be able to fight with it; it was too big to maneuver. So I dropped it.

There was something...some ancient knowledge calling to me. From within the tower; there was something beyond the doorway at the back of this room.

I looked down over the edge of the platform. John was below me, kneeling over a dead Unggoy. He picked something off of the body and threw it towards the remaining soldiers.

"Grenade!"

The explosive detonated as the Unggoy spoke, reducing him and his companions to corpses.

I gripped the metal beneath my hands. "John, there's something in here. In the tower."

He started walking towards the ramp. "Can it help us find the ships?"

"I...something feels wrong. Something else is happening. Something bigger."

"Bigger than a Forerunner fleet?" He moved up next to me, putting a hand on my shoulder to make sure I was okay.

"I know." I looked down. "But I-I really feel like this isn't it. The Domain is weak here, but it's warning me. Something _b-bad_ is going to happen, John."

"Hey. We're okay."

"We were okay five minutes before I got kidnapped, too!" I was shocked at my own outburst. Especially when tears welled up in my eyes.

John wrapped one arm around my back, using the other to hold my head to his chest. I closed my eyes, pretending the lining of my helmet was his chest. I felt more tears fall down my cheeks.

"I won't let anything hurt you."

I wanted to be selfish, and take comfort in those words. But I couldn't.

I wrapped my arms around John's waist and whispered, "I'm not just scared for me."

"We'll be fine." He pulled away and brushed the side of my helmet with his fingertips. "Are you okay?"

I was glad he couldn't see my face. If he saw my tears, it would make him worry about me more. Then he'd focus too much on me, and not on staying alive.

So I nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Then let's move."

We walked towards the door, which opened automatically for us. There was a small, empty room. A platform, with a shaft above us. We were in an elevator.

Just as the doors sealed the comm came through again. A garbled male voice could be heard, though I couldn't make out any words.

"I heard something that time." John turned to me. "Is it strong enough?"

I grabbed his arm with both hands, using him to keep myself upright as I focused on the transmission. "I can't tell where they are...but I can get a ship name. 'UNSC _Song of the East_'."

"Haven't heard of them."

"They're friendly, though." I turned to watch the shaft run by us as we ascended. "That's good."

The elevator stopped and the door behind us opened. I turned into a large room, with a platform in front of us. John stepped out first, his scavenged rifle up and ready to fire.

A hoard of flying robots rushed up from below the platform, moving away from us.

John took aim. "Sentinels."

"They're not after us," I realized.

"Good." He lowered his gun and bitterly regarded the Sentinels.

I walked up to the edge of the platform. There were other platforms, each about eight feet apart. There was a floor beneath us, ten feet down.

Across the way was another platform with some sort of console on it.

"We need to get over there." I pointed towards the console.

John glanced at me before jumping down. I floated myself to the ground, not willing to jump from that height.

"What is it?" He nodded to the console that I was so insistent to get to.

"I don't know. It's connected to a system of sorts. It's worth a look, isn't it?"

He nodded.

We walked between the bases of the platforms. I looked around the massive room, with the overgrowing, flowering vines wrapping around the metal.

At the very peak of the tower, sunlight pierced through. It was a fake sun...but that didn't make it any less majestic.

"This is beautiful," I whispered reverently.

John's hand came down to rest on my helmet. I could feel his love for me, though it was tinged with an ever-present fear that I would get hurt. If he could feel my emotions he would feel much the same thing.

There were ramps to the left and right, leading up to the platform. I made my way up, my eyes on the console. Trying to find out what secrets it held.

The console was the same height as my chest. I placed my hand on top of it and called up a hologram. It was a map of the entire world.

I read some of the information below it. "O-okay, this planet _is_ called Requiem. Should we look for the fleet first, or the _Song of the East_?"

"Find our ship first," John said. "We may need backup."

"Got it." I nodded.

Then I pushed the transmission into the cartographer, trying to pull up its location. The system crashed, and my mind was thrown back into my body.

I staggered. I would have fallen, but John placed an arm on my back.

"What happened?"

I brought a hand up to my helmet. "I...don't know. It just quit working."

"Can we get it back online?"

I closed my eyes and felt around for anything connected to the cartographer. "Okay...there are two power nodes. They'll get it back online, I think."

"Where?"

I pointed to the front right corner of the room. "One there, a-and one on the other side. I'll take that one, okay?"

"Are you sure?" He didn't like the idea of splitting up, even for such a short distance.

"I'll be okay. It shouldn't take long."

"Be careful."

I placed my hand over his, which was on my shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

"Isn't that my line?" He looked down at me with a bit of an amused air.

I grinned. "Yeah. I really will, though." I forced down the ominous pulse from the Domain, which seemed determined to prove me wrong. "I promise."

"Meet back here," John said.

I nodded. Then I turned to the right, for the node.

It was in a separate chamber, on a platform in the middle of a massive circular shaft. There was a hardlight bridge that could be activated to walk across the chasm.

I found the controls fairly easily and activated the bridge. Then I walked across. In the center of the round platform was a beam of orange light. Inside the beam was another control panel.

My eyes scanned the room. It really was beautiful - the Forerunners couldn't be faulted for their architecture. Every single Forerunner construction was breathtaking, even to people with no particular bond to the ancient race.

I activated the node and felt the room buzz with energy. It set me on edge, like a caffeine overdose. I wanted to _move_ and _do_ something.

My eyes closed as I forced the jittery feeling away. I made my way back across the hardlight bridge.

There was something in the main room. Lots of somethings. Covenant soldiers.

In the time it had taken me to reactivate the node, Covenant forces had infiltrated and covered the room. They were _everywhere_.

Oh, god, John was by himself.

He could handle himself, I whispered silently. He'd been trained for this.

But...I hadn't.

I was by myself, too. And I wasn't ready to be by myself with the Covenant just yet.

The Unggoy nearest me jerked, one at a time, as bullets pierced their skulls.

My head shot up. John was on a platform above me, halfway across the room, with his handgun in hand.

He would cover me from above.

I shot out of the short hallway, sending out a massive shockwave. It wrought havoc on the occupants of the room - all who were in front of me, anyway - and sent them flying back. I picked up a group of Unggoy and sent them crashing into the ground.

Not only did the impact kill them, it crushed three Kig Yar.

I didn't like having to kill them, but I knew it was a necessity. I could only pray their time in the Domain was peaceful.

Sweet Jesus, how high was my body count at this point? Did I even want to know?

Why did I even _have_ a body count?

I took out the last few Sangheili with a savage pulse and turned to John. "Are you okay?"

"Are you?" He walked up to me.

I nodded. "Yeah. Did you get the node online?"

"Affirmative. Is the cartographer back up?"

"It should be. Let's- oh, my god. John, what happened?" I picked his left arm up to display the burned bio suit. He'd been shot in the side.

It wasn't serious, it didn't even burn through the suit, but it looked painful.

"It's just a nick," he said.

"This isn't a nick, John."

He pulled his arm out of my grip and wrapped it around me. "I'm fine."

"What if you're not?" I asked against his chest.

"I have to be."

I let my helmet fall against him with a _thunk_. "That's not fair to you."

"It doesn't matter what's fair." He put a hand on the back of my head to deepen the embrace. "It matters that the Covenant don't get their hands on a Forerunner fleet."

As he pulled away I grabbed his hands. "Are you sure it doesn't hurt?"

"I barely feel it," he assured me. "The suit's already administering biofoam."

"O-okay…"

"Come on. Let's see if the cartographer's working."

I followed him up to the console once more. When I pressed my hand against it, a hologram of the planet pulled up once more.

A grin spread over my face. "It's working."

"Can you find the _Song_?"

"Let me try…" I once again sent my mind into the system, having it focus on the coordinates from the comm.

My eyes opened to little red circles all over the planet. It wouldn't triangulate the signal.

"Hang on. Maybe I can-" An alarm sounded, and the hologram flashed red, before the signal reappeared.

In the middle of the planet.

"How are we going to get there?" John asked.

I wracked my brain. "I can try to find a- wait! John, I can teleport!"

"Can you take both of us?"

"I can try."

He nodded. "Do it."

I grabbed his hand and closed my eyes. Focused on the coordinates. Sent out my mind.

I felt myself starting to dissolve - it was a funny, fizzy feeling.

Then, without warning, it cut off.

My eyes opened. We were still by the cartographer.

I looked down at myself. "I-I don't understand."

"Maybe you can only do it yourself," John suggested.

"That's dumb." I frowned. "The one time I try to use this power on purpose, it doesn't even work!"

"We still need a way down."

"Yeah, I know." I turned back to the console and pulled something else up. "Most installations, Halo or otherwise, have a-a series of teleporters. That's how Professor Anders and I escaped th-the Covenant the first time we were captured."

"Can we get to a terminus from here?"

"I can find out." My eyes were scanning over a holographic map. "Yes! There's one...on the far end of the complex."

"Let's move."

I grabbed his hand as we walked out the back of the tower. We were on a hardlight platform that was lowering, slowly, to the ground. By the ground, I of course meant the massively long hardlight bridge that connected the tower behind us to the rest of the complex.

The hardlight bridge that was full of Covenant.

"How did they get around us?" I couldn't keep the incredulous tone out of my voice.

"Phantoms." John looked down at me. "Do we have to get all the way across the complex?"

I couldn't keep the weary dread out of my voice, either. "All the way across."

"Stay close to me," he ordered.

The elevator touched down in front of a cluster of Covenant soldiers.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! It felt like a really short week this week for some reason. I had hella writer's block that spontaneously cleared up yesterday, so that's nice.**

**Idk why but I absolutely love Halo 4. I know that's a very unpopular opinion in the fandom, but I really really like it.**

**Anywho, sorry this is a little late. I try to update every Saturday around 7:30 Central Time, but that's not always what happens oops :(**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

The first soldiers we encountered were several Unggoy and a Kig Yar.

Aside from the Kig Yar sniper, who had his own energy shield, the soldiers were hiding behind some barricades they'd erected. Their guns stuck out, trained on us.

John ducked behind a crate, pulling me with him, and fired out on them. One shot knocked the plasma pistol right out of an Unggoy's hand, another went through his skull.

John wouldn't be able to take all of them. Not in time for us to escape the Sangheili I saw coming our way. He was still a few hundred feet out, a plasma rifle in his hands, but he was moving quick.

Wait a minute...I could teleport. I could go behind them without them ever knowing. Or, at least, not knowing in time.

"John, I'll be right back."

"What are you- Tawny!" He tried to grab me as I disappeared, but ended up batting at blue specks.

I reappeared in the air, two feet above the ground and behind the Unggoy. The Sangheili saw me immediately and opened fire.

I created a barrier of my own, out of rippling ultrasound, to block the shots. My landing, however, was less than smooth. I staggered a bit, my concentration momentarily broken.

Then I made a fist and pulled the Sangheili's rifle out of his hands. It clattered across the bridge behind me.

I sent out a wave of energy, which blew him back and into the canyon wall beside us. His body fell down, down, down the chasm.

The Unggoy were behind me.

John had just shot through the Kig Yar's shield and then his throat, so he was effectively dead. But he would need a little help with the Unggoy.

I made two fists and _lifted_ their barrier up. Cries of fear erupted before they were all killed by clean shots from John.

There were two Kig Yar behind me. I turned and slammed the barricade down on top of them. It was a gruesome death, but relatively painless in that it was instant.

John moved out from behind his cover and picked up the dead Sangheili's rifle. "Not bad."

A plasma shot flew past us, a few feet away. There was a host of Unggoy running towards us from further down the bridge.

"Get down." John pushed me behind a Covenant barricade and knelt behind it with me.

He lined up the sight and shot three rounds. As many Unggoy jerked back and fell to the ground, with clean holes through their heads.

Two more shots. Two more fell.

They were fifty feet away.

I poked my head out the side of the barrier and made a fist. There was a crate beside the Unggoy. It flew across the bridge without warning, snapping the neck of the nearest Unggoy and injuring a few others.

There were only four left. John took them out, then turned his rifle on the injured Unggoy. They were trying to shove themselves up, even with bent and broken bones.

I looked away as revulsion filled me; _I_ had done that.

I was the reason those soldiers were hurting so badly.

It didn't matter. They were dead now. We had things to do, and they were in our way.

They would have done the same to us just as readily.

Why didn't that make me feel better?

Why did I feel...

"John, no!" I turned and shot my hand out.

A pulse of ultrasound locked the encroaching Sangheili in place. He flickered into sight, snarling at us to hide his fear.

He'd been right behind John, prepared to stab him through with an energy sword.

I broke his neck with a twist of my hand, letting the body fall.

My voice was breathy with horror. "Oh, my god. You almost died."

"Wouldn't be the first time," John remarked plainly.

I watched as he turned to the Sangheili's body. He picked up something - an energy sword.

How was he so calm about almost dying?

I could feel his fear, but it was muted. Shoved down. He was a soldier now, and emotions like fear got him nowhere.

So he just...wasn't afraid. He didn't accept the fear. He acknowledged it and then set it aside.

That he could do that was both an amazing skill and a testament to his awful and traumatic life.

He turned the sword over in his hands. "How many are left?"

"Not many." I reached out. "Right now, there are- there are two Kig Yar coming this way."

He nodded to me and stood, igniting his new energy sword.

The Kig Yar never stood a chance.

The sword rendered their shields almost useless, slicing through their bodies like a hot knife through butter. The first Kig Yar was dead in a second. Not a matter of second_s_, but a single second. Maybe less.

Something was above us. I looked up and saw two Banshees circling around John, preparing to fire.

"John!" I stumbled out from behind the barrier and threw my hands up. My ankle rolled as I moved, but I ignored it. I'd gotten good at ignoring it through the years.

I took control of both Banshees, throwing them in opposite directions. They hit the canyon walls on either side of us, crumpling on impact.

"John, there are only three left. Two Kig Yar and a Sangheili."

"Take the Elite." He held the sword up. "I'll handle the Jackals."

I nodded, walking ahead. Tuning out the pain in my right ankle. I was reaching out with my mind; the Sangheili was somewhere nearby...invisible.

But invisibility meant absolutely nothing to me. He couldn't hide his mind. His own thoughts, his strategies to defeat me, were his undoing. I could _feel_ him.

I shot my hand out and sent him flying into the massive doorway behind him. His neck broke on impact, and his body slouched to the ground.

I turned around just in time to see John behead the last Kig Yar. The head, which was quickly growing pale as more blood poured out, rolled down the slight incline towards me.

John walked down to me. "Are we close?"

"No." I looked to the doorway. "We have to get through another courtyard."

"Is it occupied?"

I nodded.

"Stay behind me."

My head shot up to him. "Since when was _that_ a thing?"

"Since you're limping."

My eyes widened. "What? No, I-I'm fine."

"Tawny." He took a step towards me, his voice authoritative. Fueled by the fear and love I could feel in his heart.

I looked down under the weight of his gaze. "I'm used to it. B-besides, you're hurt too."

"This isn't about me," he insisted.

"Why not?" I shot back. "I _care_ about you. I don't want you to get hurt worse, or...or die."

"If you get killed…"

"I won't." I put a hand on his wrist. "I promise."

I would bet anything his jaw was clenched under his helmet.

He stared down at me for a long time, his emotions fluctuating as he argued with himself.

Then he conceded. "Open the door."

I'd already sent my mind into the mechanism, preparing to do just that. It slid open to reveal a short hallway. There was another door at the end, which would open to reveal Covenant troops in the courtyard beyond.

We walked through. Our footsteps echoed throughout the empty room; it was almost eerie. After the last several minutes of near-constant gunfire, the silence felt strange.

When we reached the door I pressed my hand against it, closing my eyes. I reached out with my mind. "Ten Kig Yar. Two Sangheili. So many Unggoy."

John checked the ammo on the plasma rifle. "Where's the closest target?"

"To the left. T-two Kig Yar."

"Let's go."

I opened the door. It slid up, revealing a steep inclined path. John led the way up with his rifle out and ready.

I limped up after him just in time to see the Phantom dropping off even more Unggoy before us.

The new Unggoy were unexpected. They were also scarcely ten feet in front of us.

John didn't hesitate. He fired three shots and took down three Unggoy. A pair of Kig Yar nearby flashed around, igniting their shields and taking aim at John.

I made a fist, crushing their needlers.

The abrupt and intense pressure increase made the crystals explode - an unintended side effect that blew the Kig Yar halfway across the courtyard. They died from the force of the explosion and left gory smears when they skidded across the ground.

I could feel someone that I couldn't see. "John, there's a Sangheili behind the barricade!"

He didn't respond.

I turned to see him on the back of a Ghost, grappling with the pilot. He threw the Kig Yar out, jumping into the seat, and asked, "Where?"

I decided to show him, rather than tell him. My hand shot out, waves of ultrasound wrapping around the Sangheili. He snarled as his camouflage and shields cut out, rendering him both visible and helpless.

John fired a single shot from the Ghost, and the Sangheili was dead.

Something slammed into one of the stabilizers of the Ghost. It jerked, warbling in an off-balanced manner.

My head shot up. "Turrets!"

"Go left!" John sped off, to the turret on the right side of the courtyard, as he spoke.

I turned to the left. There, up on a platform, was another Unggoy on a turret. I held my hand out, creating a tiny shield around the nose of the gun.

When the Unggoy shot at me, and he did so fairly quickly, it backfired. He died in the explosion; his body slammed back against the wall and left a splatter of blood.

I turned to face the rest of the courtyard, but I couldn't see John. I could hear plasma fire, though, and that set me on edge.

He was still in the stolen Ghost, which was now smoking, firing on three other Ghosts. They were converging on him, trying to box him in.

Absolutely not.

I wouldn't be able to make it in time. Even if I ran - not that I could do that anymore, thanks to my ankle - I would be too slow.

So I lifted off of the ground and flew over to them, across the courtyard. I moved so fast I was scared I'd pass out.

I didn't take the time to land, just hovered above John and made a fist. I crushed one Ghost into a ball and slammed it into the one beside it.

John shoved himself up, soaring through the air _without_ help from his Forerunner-gifted powers, and landed on the nose of the final Ghost.

Before I could cry out in shock he'd snapped the Unggoy pilot's neck so savagely that it had almost entirely decapitated, thrown the corpse out, and taken control of that Ghost instead.

Without leaving the vehicle, he pulled the rifle off of his back and took aim. There, directly behind me on a platform, was a Kig Yar. This one was special; without a shield. It had a better weapon, too.

John shot him in the throat, right where his chin met his neck. His head jerked back with a spurt of blood.

The shot had gone _right_ past me...but I trusted John.

I landed next to him. "There's one more Sangheili."

"Climb on."

I didn't argue. My ankle was aching, even without any weight on it. It was minor, and I could tune it out, but that _didn't_ mean it was pleasant by any means.

I climbed onto the back of the Ghost, letting my legs fall on either side of John. My hands were gripping the back of his seat to keep from falling; the back of this thing was small and curved.

_Hopefully_ I wouldn't fall.

John glanced back. "Good?"

I nodded, taking a steadying breath. "Yeah. I'm good."

"Where's the Elite?" He shoved us forward, towards the entrance of the tower.

My eyes closed. "Right beside the last pillar."

John opened fire. I saw the Sangheili ripple into sight as he jerked back. The Ghost tore through his armor like it was paper.

"How close are we to the terminus?" John asked.

"It's up near the top of the tower."

He climbed out of the Ghost and offered me a hand. "How many?"

I slid down the side of the Ghost, trying to keep the pressure off of my right side. I reached into the tower with my mind. "I don't know. Give me a...oh my god."

"What?"

"Thousands. Thousands of Covenant are up there."

"Are you sure?" He checked the ammo in his stolen rifle, then in the rifle of the dead Sangheili beside us. His had less, so he dropped it and secured the new rifle to his back.

I closed my eyes again. "It doesn't feel right. Thousands of individuals...but only one mind. It's...it's a Hunter."

"We can take it."

"No...two Hunters." I looked down.

Hunters were pretty much impossible to beat.

John pulled his hand out of my grip and drew two fingers across my face in a smile. A SPARTAN smile. It was a silent message of general moral; we would be fine. Everything would be okay.

We'd made it this far, hadn't we?

I reached up, on my toes, to return the gesture.

He rested his hand on my head and faced the door. "Come on, we need to move."

I tried to hide my limp as we walked. John already knew I was hurt, but I hated feeling weak. And I didn't want to worry him. So I hid it as best as I could.

My mind branched out into the door controls, sliding it open. We were in a small room with two pathways on either side, both of which led up to the ramp in the center of the room. The room was empty.

Everything was eerily silent as we walked onto the platform at the top of the ramp. Before us was an intersection; we could either go right or left. Everything in this tower was symmetrical; it didn't matter which way we went, we would end up in the same place.

When we turned right I gasped, halting in my tracks. "Oh, god."

There, before us, were several Covenant corpses. They'd all been slaughtered, every single one of them. Sangheili, Kig Yar, and Unggoy.

They all sported several deep burns; it made for a gory sort of cauterized wound.

Something had gotten to them before us. Something ruthless.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hey guys! I've been feeling a little off today, so I decided to post another chapter because it helps me clear my head and because I love reading about Halo 4.**

**Anywho that writer's block is back but I hope it'll be gone soon. I'm sorry for posting on an odd day, but don't worry, I'll still post on Saturday!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

My eyes fell on an Unggoy, with deep burns on his chest and neck. Like something hot had drilled into his skin. A laser, maybe?

I staggered back. "What…?"

"Sentinels." John's voice was dark with hatred.

"I can't believe…" My voice was suddenly serious. "This means the Covenant is trying to get into the tower. They're trying to reach the terminus."

"Can you feel any more?"

"Just the Hunters," I assured him.

"How far up?"

I tapped into the tower's system. "There's an access point for the terminus that's pretty close. About...three more floors; it's an elevator."

He pulled his rifle down from his back. "Let's move."

I followed him along the pathway, which had a paperclip turn at the top leading to another ramp. My limp was growing progressively worse - the pain harder to ignore, too - but I forced myself to keep up with John.

He was walking up the ramp slowly, with his rifle out and ready to shoot. He'd even nabbed some extra ammo for it, so that he wouldn't have to find a new weapon so quickly.

The ramp was at an awkward angle, further aggravating my ankle. I pushed on. Like John had said earlier, we had a job to do. I would have to be okay.

We were two floors up. The Hunters were right above us.

My ankle gave out. I staggered, catching my footing with no small amount of pinwheeling. There was an adamant complaint from my ankle; it would give out again soon if I didn't take a rest.

But I couldn't rest now.

John was staring at me. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." I straightened up. "I-I'm good."

"Tawny-"

"Oh, the Sentinels killed one of the Hunters." I'd felt its death above us. Thousands of deaths, yet at the same time only one.

"Good. I was about to tell you; you're sitting this fight out."

"_What_? John, I can-"

"I'm not letting you fight." He crossed the room in two strides, gripping my shoulders. "That's final."

I could feel his conviction. He really wouldn't let me.

I relented. "Okay. But if you're in trouble, I-I'm _going_ to help you."

He didn't respond. He just let go of me, trailing his hand down my arm, and resumed our track for the terminus.

We were on the third level up. To our right was a drop off, cliffs and nature visible from the balcony ledge. To our left was another platform with a large doorway. Covenant corpses surrounded us, including one massive, limp Hunter on the platform.

One Hunter was still alive and trying to defend itself from the barrage of Sentinels.

John turned to me. "Find somewhere secure. Do not engage unless you have to."

"Okay. Please be safe."

He pulled a grenade out. "Don't worry about me."

I slid down against a Covenant barricade. My right leg was out in front of me.

I tried to twist the ankle, but _that_ caused a particularly painful reaction that lanced up my leg. So I held it still.

Some garbled noise filled my helmet. It was a voice. A comm. From _Song of the East_!

I heard a massive explosion above me. Plasma fire. Some sort of inhuman screeching.

One last explosion.

John walked down the ramp, wiping pink goo off of his arm. "Secure."

"Oh, John, check this out. A-another comm came through; I'll play it for you."

I held up my hand. A hologram appeared over my palm; a blue square. The video feed was still completely static, but some of the audio was understandable.

"...Forerunner shield world reported...is...the artifact…"

John held a hand out to help me up. "Sounded like he said 'artifact'."

"It did." I pulled myself up and refused to acknowledge my ankle's complaints. "Maybe the Covenant isn't after a fleet. Maybe they're looking for something else."

"Where's the terminus?"

"It should be right through that door." I nodded to the doorway that the Sentinels had been protecting from the Covenant.

John led the way through the door. It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the low lighting inside.

We walked through a large room with metal folds hanging down above us on either side. I could feel the ancient, hallowed history that had taken place in this room; on this planet.

Everything here was older than any of our history.

Humans had been around for longer than this, but the Halo array had wiped most of them out. Not this place, though. It remained unaffected by the array, since it wasn't alive or sentient.

This place was older than the entirety of modern human history. That knowledge was incredibly disorienting to me.

We walked onto the elevator, and I set it to take us up to the terminus.

"You're sure you're okay?" John looked down at me.

I was leaning heavily against John, trying to take the weight off of my ankle. It was unintentional.

When I realized what I was doing I straightened up. "Yeah, I'm fine."

His doubt was almost physically tangible.

The elevator stopped. We walked out onto a narrow metal bridge. On either side of the bridge was a host of strange pillars. At the end of the bridge was a console.

John looked down at the pillars, more curious than anything.

My eyes, however, fell on the steep cavern beneath the walkway. It seemed to go down forever. On this walkway, both narrow and without rails, my fear was that one of us would fall.

Theoretically we could both fly, of course, but no one said fear had to be rational.

I walked up to the console, pressing my hand against it. As soon as my mind entered it, our platform separated from the bridge.

It rose up and away from the bridge, taking us towards the center of the massive room.

"Okay, I need to find the right place. There are portal terminuses all over the planet, on several different layers, so it's hard to find...what?" I pulled my hand away from the console.

John shifted. "What is it?"

"I-I'm trying to get to the _Song_'s location." I pulled up a hologram. "When I touched the closest terminus to it, the symbol for 'Reclaimer' popped up."

"Humanity. That's got to be the _Song_." John looked at the round symbol.

I nodded. "Probably."

"Can you get us there?"

"Y-yeah, I think so." I messed with a few controls.

Metal began moving and shrieking. The pillars were rising up around us.

John turned, his rifle out. "Tawny?"

"That wasn't me." I pressed my back against the console.

"What is it?"

"I-I don't know. It's like-"

On the pillars that had risen to our level, huge bug-like constructs appeared. They looked familiar. And they seemed agitated.

John's voice was tense. "Set a waypoint out of the tower."

I turned back to the console. My hands were shaking; I could feel the malicious intent radiating off of the beings. A sick desire to rip our bodies apart.

A portal opened to my left.

I shuffled away from it, my eyes wide. "That wasn't me either."

"Let's move." John grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the portal.

I got a closer look at one of the beings. It looked like Warden, I realized. He'd told me what he was...what was the word?

Oh, yeah, I remembered.

"Prometheans?" I couldn't keep the incredulous tone out of my voice.

"Jump!" John pushed me towards the portal. I all but fell into it.

My vision reappeared as I landed harshly on the ground on my stomach.

We were in a metal hallway. Forerunner in design.

John landed behind me. "Tawny?"

"I'm okay." I pushed up to my hands and knees, then my feet.

My ankle tried to roll again, but I was quick to catch it and take some weight off.

"What were those things?" John ghosted a hand across the back of my shoulders to make sure I was alright. "They looked like the Warden."

"He-he said he was a Promethean. I think those are the same thing."

"They didn't act like the Warden."

I shook my head. "No, they didn't. They were so twisted; full of anger."

John put a comforting hand on my head. "Let's find out where we are."

"I...yeah, let's go."

I'd almost asked if we could take a break. Then I remembered; the Covenant was here. They were after something. We _had_ to stop them; I wasn't about to let my ankle doom humanity.

We walked down the short hall. The door opened automatically for us, revealing an inexplicably massive room.

Not a room...a core. The core of the planet.

And in the center, a huge floating orb. Two purple beams of light converged from either side, covering the orb.

That orb filled me with inexplicable dread.

There was a ramp ahead of us, leading up to a platform. At the very end of the platform was a console.

I walked up to it, tentatively brushing against it with my mind.

John glanced around. "Where's the _Song_?"

"I...I don't know. This is where the cartographer said it was."

"So what happened?"

I closed my eyes and delved into the console. Maybe it would hold some answers.

I pointed up to the orb in the center of the core, the one that filled me with dread. "That's a satellite...and it's streaming the _Song_'s transmissions, m-making them louder. What we've been hearing all this time, it wasn't a direct signal. It was _this_."

I immediately felt out into the satellite.

"B-but it's not strong enough for us to respond. Not with...there are two beam pylons blocking an-any outgoing transmissions." I pointed to the twin beams of purple light that erupted from opposite sides of the core and interlocked around the satellite.

John looked from one end of the core to the other. The beams were directly across from each other, and both of them were ninety degrees from us.

"We could take them out. Can you get us there?" he asked.

"I can try to open a portal. I-it's worth a shot."

He nodded. "Do it."

I closed my eyes and entered the system with my mind; I didn't know how to open a portal manually.

"Okay." My eyes opened as a portal appeared to our left. "I can't get us to the beams, b-but I can get us close."

"Let's move."

He jumped down from the platform. I followed, floating myself down in a bubble of ultrasound. I flew through the portal just ahead of him.

We were in another hallway. There was no door opposite us; it was open. A slanting pathway. I could see the metal of the floor turning into rocky ground.

John took in our surroundings. "How close are we to the first pylon?"

I started walking for the end of the hallway. "I don't know. I know how to get there, though."

"Lead the way." He moved his rifle to point me forward.

We walked together out of the hallway. I looked up, seeing the massive beam pylon. "Wow. There it is."

"That's not very far," John noted. "Let's go."

We were surrounded on either side by rocky canyon walls. Ahead of us was a clearing of sorts, with a few small buttes in the center.

As we walked towards the clearing I grabbed John's elbow. "There's something there."

"What?" He pushed me behind him and began scanning our surroundings with his rifle.

"They just went away. They...it was _almost_ like they were Prometheans. But-but they were different. More primitive."

And more bloodthirsty.

"Keep an eye out." John continued forward, his head on a swivel.

He led the way through the clearing and into another narrow pathway. I could feel how tense he was; we were vulnerable here. Someone could fire down on us from the tops of the canyon walls and we would be all but helpless.

There was another clearing ahead.

My eyes widened. "They're back."

"Stay behind me." John moved into the mouth of the clearing.

A host of large four-legged constructs slinked towards us. Like Prometheans, but animalistic.

One of them screeched, opening its four-jawed mouth like a demented flower, and pounced towards us. John took it out in a single shot, reducing it to scrap metal.

There were several more crawling down the canyon walls on the far end of the clearing. Two were already on the ground, firing guns from their rear hips.

I threw a hand out and took hold of the ones still slinking down the wall. I threw them across the clearing. Their bodies broke against the ground, weapons falling from their carcasses.

But more replaced them. As if they were springing up from the ground.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! I know I updated on Wednesday, but the gap between then and now feels like much longer than three days for some reason.**

**Anywho I'm writing a collection of short stories about Tawny, but some of them contain characters and plot points that haven't been introduced yet so I may not be posting them for a while.**

**In the meantime, if any of you have a request for a short story about Tawny, something from her backstory or anything, let me know!**

**And as always, I love you guys! :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

John shoved me behind a boulder and turned to brace himself for impact. A crawler landed on top of him, trying to claw at his helmet. Before I could think to help him, or even fully realize what had happened, he'd ripped the construct's head from its body.

That was the last one; they'd all been killed.

John pushed the dead crawler off of him. "Those weren't the same as the Prometheans in the terminus."

"No, they weren't." I forced my aching body to stand. "But they were similar."

I looked down at a crawler's corpse. There were two Forerunner pistols. _Boltshots_, something whispered in the back of my head.

I picked one up and turned it over in my hands.

There was a chasm ahead, with sweltering magma at the bottom. A hardlight bridge across.

John walked across the clearing and activated the bridge. I was still staring at the massive alien pistol in my hands.

He turned back to me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." I continued to study the boltshot. "I think...I know how to use this."

"We need to move. Take it with you."

I nodded, magnetizing the weapon to my thigh.

We walked across the bridge and into another canyon path. This one sloped down and curved to the right, towards the pylon.

Something was wrong. Something was setting me on edge. Something was making the hair on the back of my neck stick up.

John felt it too.

My heart stopped as a massive Promethean dropped down from the canyon wall. It landed on John, pulling back its facial mask to screech at him. Its "real" face was a human skull made of blue hardlight.

"John!" I stumbled back.

He grunted, punching the knight across the face. Then he kicked it away from himself. As he jumped to his feet I shot my hand out and wrapped around the Promethean.

My hand contracted into a fist, reducing the Promethean to a tight ball of scrap metal.

When I let go the remains evaporated in a flurry of orange particles.

"John, are you okay?"

He nodded as I limped up to him. My eyes looked him over and I intruded a bit into his mind; he wasn't hurt.

I ran my hand down his chest. "Thank god. I-I'll keep a better watch now, I promise."

John started walking down the path again. The beam pylon was growing closer and closer.

"Did you see its face?" he asked.

"I did." I looked down. "It gave me more questions than answers. I'll try to figure it out if we see one again."

"I think you mean 'when'."

My head shot up.

Our path followed one wall of the canyon, to the left. The other wall split off to our right. And, across from us, was the wall of an even bigger canyon. There was a huge drop off into it scarcely a few feet in front of us.

Prometheans were phasing in and out along the far wall of the canyon; they could teleport.

There was a Forerunner structure in the clearing to our left. All the way on the other side. And I could feel Prometheans, both knights and crawlers, closing in on us.

"John, they're coming," I whispered.

"Stay low."

"No, John, it's a lot. You won't be able to-"

"I said stay low." His desperation to keep me safe would be the death of him.

A pack of crawlers rushed towards us. John crouched behind the stone I was already using for cover, looking through his rifle's scope. Two shots rang out, and a crawler was reduced to scraps.

He wouldn't be able to take them all.

I took a deep, calming breath. I could do this; I'd seen plenty of combat at this point.

I could handle myself, despite what John thought.

My mind reached out. An urge. A place. My body fell numb.

I rephased over a Promethean knight. I let myself fall, jamming my new hardlight pistol into its neck and firing down into its core.

Its body began glowing; shredding itself. A massive data purge.

Before I had the chance to fall I was teleporting again. Behind the crawlers, who were closing in on John.

The boltshot was clearly made for beings several times larger than me. What they wielded with one hand, I had to use two.

It didn't matter, it was just as effective.

I shot down one of the crawlers before they processed what was happening. By the time they turned to fight me I was gone. Dephased.

I reappeared in the air. There was a Promethean drone of sorts, a watcher, who was providing the knights with support from the air.

I was floating behind it. Two well-placed shots sent it spiralling for the ground.

John was out in the open clearing now, having dealt with all of the crawlers. I turned just in time to see a knight appear behind him, shooting him in the back.

"No!" I shot my hand out and latched around the Promethean. In the ultrasonic waves, it couldn't teleport out.

I drew the knight up, away from John. He looked okay; his shields had taken the damage. I forgot he had shields; I didn't have shields.

Professor Anders had meant to install them after we secured the artifact, way back on Earth. Then shit hit the fan, and it never happened. It felt like only a month ago, but it was really almost three years.

Focus, damn it.

I slammed the knight back into the ground, listening to its metal body collapse in on itself.

My ankle once again complained as I landed next to John.

His voice was hard, and he towered over me. "I told you to stay down."

"And _I_ told you there were too many to take on alone." I took a breath. "What matters is, we're both okay."

He tossed his empty rifle aside and picked up a suppressor rifle from the corpse of a Promethean. "I don't think that was the last we'll see of them."

I exchanged my half-empty boltshot for a full one I found on the ground. "I don't think so, either."

We walked together into the doorway. It was a long hallway through the stone, curving slightly to the right. Right towards the beam pylon.

When we reached the other door I grabbed John's wrist. "Knights. A-and crawlers, and watchers."

"You won't stay down, will you?" He hated admitting that.

I shook my head.

"Be safe."

"I will, John. Don't worry."

He checked his new Forerunner rifle. "Ready?"

I lifted a few inches into the air as the door slid open.

"Now." He took aim and incinerated a watcher.

A crawler found us right away. I flew around the right wall of the clearing, shooting at it to draw its attention away from John. It seemed to work, which was good.

But now there was an entire pack of crawlers slinking towards me, pinning me to the wall, which was bad.

My hand shot out, crushing a few of them.

I didn't want to expend my powers; we had much more fighting to do. The other beam pylon was waiting, and doubtlessly just as guarded as this one.

Plus the Covenant. We still had to stop the Covenant.

So I couldn't exhaust myself any more than I already had. Not that these crawlers were giving me much of a choice.

An idea hit me. I teleported to the top of a large boulder in the middle of the clearing. Behind the pack of watchers.

As they tried to locate me I wrapped my hands around a fallen lightrifle. It was nearly as big as me, but not as heavy.

I heaved it up, laying flat over the rock. Like Linda did when she was sniping.

Only problem is, my aim seemed to suck. Of the five shots I fired, only two hit their mark.

That crawler did die, but it left me once again vulnerable to the rest of the pack.

I picked the lightrifle up with both hands, hugging it to my body as I scrambled to get away from them. My ankle gave out under my weight with a shock of pain that seemed to immobilize my entire leg.

I curled in on myself, rolling clumsily down the boulder. When I reopened my eyes - which had been clenched tightly shut - I saw a crawler on the boulder above me. It snarled, its body shaking with bloodlust.

With a terrified cry I shoved the lightrifle off of me and pulled my boltshot out, hitting it in the face with the hardlight round. There was a spine-chilling screech as it retreated.

Its companions weren't so easily warded off.

I rolled onto my knees, shooting at the encroaching crawlers. I took down several, and injured a handful. There were three left.

I fired the boltshot. It clicked uselessly; empty.

The lightrifle was still lying next to me. I grabbed it with both hands, pulling it up onto my shoulder. Hopefully I would be able to fire the massive thing from there.

I took aim and shot at the closest crawler. The first shot missed, but the second hit it right in the neck. Its head popped off and rolled towards me. The body fell, sparking, to the ground.

There was a snarl above me. One of the crawlers had jumped up, pouncing for me.

Even if I shot it down, its weight would crush me.

A burst of orange hardlight slammed into the crawler. It jerked to the side, landing harshly next to me. I turned to see John, behind a rock along the wall, with a suppressor rifle out.

He'd just saved my life. Again.

I forced myself to focus. There was one crawler left.

Three shots and I took it down.

I used the lightrifle like a staff to help stand up, and turned to John. "Thank you."

He didn't say anything, tapping the side of my helmet where my cheek would be.

"The pylon is really close." I discarded the lightrifle.

A blue box lit up in the corner of my HUD. Another comm. The speech was completely inaudible, but there was a staticky picture. An older man with white hair.

"John, do you see that?" I asked.

"I see it."

"But I can't hear what he's saying. It's- it must be the beam."

John looked over to the end of the clearing. There was another doorway. We walked through, into another hallway. It beat going around the canyons, that was for sure.

The door slid open to reveal a huge Forerunner complex; the beam pylon. It was crawling with Prometheans.

"That's our target." John nodded towards the center of the complex, a large metal building, where the purple beam was shooting up from.

"The entrance is surrounded by a shield," I warned.

"So we'll take it down."

"I-I don't know." I pulled back into the hallway. "There's a lot of Prometheans. Something like that would take forever."

John pulled back as well, looking down at me. "What do you suggest?"

I glanced back out. "I think I can teleport inside the barrier, a-and disable the beam from there."

"It's too risky." He shook his head.

Another transmission from the _Song_. This one displayed their location. They were approaching Requiem.

I thought they were already inside.

"John!" I gasped.

"I see it."

"They're not inside the planet yet."

He looked down. "If they get caught in the gravity well…"

"We have to warn them, John. I _have_ to do this."

He grabbed my arm. "Come back as soon as the beam is down."

"I will. I love you, John."

"I love you too."

I closed my eyes and reached out for the control center of the pylon. My body dissipated into trillions of little blue particles.

I reformed inside a large room. There was a huge beam of light in the center, shooting up towards the satellite so far away, and a control mechanism in front of it.

There was a piston of sorts, inside the mechanism. A handle on the top of it. I knew immediately how to disable the beam; I had to pull that unbelievably heavy piston out, and then push it back in.

The cylinder must have weighed at least four times my weight, and I was four hundred pounds in the armor.

I reached out with my hand, wrapping a band of ultrasound around the handle. I pulled it up, my hand curling into a fist. It rose, slowly. _Slowly_.

My entire body was strained, even though my mind was doing the lifting. I groaned through clenched teeth.

When the piston was all the way out I formed a cover over its entire upper surface. Then I pulled my hand back and _shoved_. The cylinder slammed back down. The beam cut out.

I heard another transmission from the _Song_. "Fleetcom Actual, we've detected a UNSC beacon coming from somewhere _inside _the planet."

There was an ID with the speaker this time; Captain Andrew Del Rio.

They were following the _Dawn_'s distress beacon, in the inner surface of Requiem, and the beacons from both my suit and John's suit. The _Dawn_'s distress beacon would lead them straight to the gravity well. Which would tear the ship to shreds and kill everyone on board.

I teleported back to John. My landing was rough on my ankle, but I shoved that down and hobbled up to him.

"We have to warn them! I..." I glanced around, "I can open a portal from that node."

John followed my finger to a small outlet on the fringes of the complex. If we timed it right, we could escape through it before the Prometheans had a chance to attack.

He nodded. "Do it."

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! This week felt super short for some reason.**

**Are you guys quarantined? My family is; we've got more than a hundred confirmed cases in my state rn oof**

**Be safe guys!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

I looked at the portal node, a hundred feet away. "We'll have to run for it."

John stepped out of the hallway and prepared himself to sprint.

I closed my eyes and connected the node in the complex to the node where we'd originally entered the core. A swirling blue portal opened up, catching the attention of the nearest Prometheans.

"Go!" I lifted off of the ground, flying for the portal.

John had no trouble keeping up on foot as the Prometheans opened fire.

He hit the portal first. I followed. As soon as we were through I shut it down, preventing the Prometheans from following us.

I landed on the hard ground, rolling onto my back. A groan filtered through my teeth.

"Tawny?" John looked down at me with an air of distinct concern.

"I'm okay." I took a few deep breaths. "Just tired. But we have to warn the _Song_ before they get sucked in."

He bent down and offered me his hand. "Come on."

I gripped his hand and let him pull me up. I tried to keep most of my weight off of my right ankle, something he took immediate note of.

I kept his hand in mine as we walked back down the hallway. The door opened, once again revealing the massive orb-like satellite.

Something about the satellite made me want to shy away from it.

There was only one beam hitting it now, from the right side. The other pylon; we would have to take it out. Quickly.

Just as I accessed the system to take us to the second pylon, several slipspace ruptures appeared in the space around the orb.

My eyes widened as the ships filed out.

"It's the Covenant," John said darkly.

I swallowed. "W-what are they doing here?"

"They're moving for the second pylon."

He was right; all of the ships were speeding towards the wall of the core, right where the remaining purple beam rose up.

"Get us there."

"On it." I pulled up the portal. "Okay, let's go."

He ran ahead, jumping through the portal. I limped after him.

We were in another hallway. This time, when we walked out, we were met with stone tunnels. Light filtered through; they weren't very long or deep.

John stepped out of the hallway, moving his suppressor around. "Anything nearby?"

"No." I glanced around to confirm what I could feel. "Nothing."

"Maybe the Prometheans don't want the Covenant here, either."

I nodded. "Probably not. The Prometheans want to protect the planet. I can't- I couldn't imagine the Covenant getting it any easier than we did."

We moved down another tunnel. There was light at the end; the way out.

I paused before the mouth of the tunnel. "John, look."

He followed my gaze, tilting his head back. Hovering above us was a Covenant ship. It was dropping huge, egg-like pods full of soldiers.

They landed in the clearing before us, shaking the ground. Covenant soldiers piled out of the drop pods, filling the clearing.

"So much for a clear path." I chewed on my lip.

John nodded at something on the far end of the clearing. "Look."

I followed his directions. There was a pack of crawlers tearing through a group of Unggoy.

"We can move around them. Light steps," he instructed before moving down the path. He clung to the wall, ducking behind a stone.

I followed, floating an inch or two off of the ground.

The Prometheans tore through the Covenant. Not to say it was easy for them; the aliens put up a formidable fight. Especially once the initial shock of the Promethean attack wore off.

I saw an Unggoy lob a grenade at a small group of crawlers.

"Stick to cover," John murmured.

He rushed forward, silently, to another stone along the edge. I was right behind him, crouching behind a slightly smaller boulder.

There was a Sangheili directly in front of us.

Before I could offer to take care of him, John crept forward. Unsheathed his knife.

He yanked the Sangheili down by the back of his armor, stabbing the knife into his throat. The Sangheili gave a single, dying gurgle. His body convulsed for a moment.

He was dead.

I pushed my sympathy down and nodded to the end of the clearing. "We're almost to the path."

"Break for it." John shoved himself forward, running the last fifty feet.

I was beside him, hovering scarce inches over the rocky ground. Fatigue was needling swiftly through my mind as well as my body, but I ignored it.

The pathway was mostly empty. Save a single Promethean, engaging a single Sangheili, we were alone.

The Promethean used the blade on its forearm to slit the Sangheili's throat and tossed the body to the ground. Then it turned its rifle on us

I formed a shield in front of us, blocking the shots. Then I sent it forward and slammed it into the Promethean.

It stumbled back, momentarily disoriented.

A moment too long.

John took swift advantage of the knight's distraction, running up and shoving a grenade onto its chest. He kicked the Promethean away and threw himself behind a boulder.

The grenade destroyed the Promethean's core. It dissipated into a cloud of orange particles, which faded away like dying embers.

I pointed. "The pylon is just ahead."

"We're taking this one together."

I limped alongside him down the path. "Okay."

There was a small clearing ahead, littered with Sangheili, Kig Yar, and Unggoy corpses.

A squad of Unggoy was holding off some crawlers. They were between us and the door into the pylon controls.

Right beside the mouth of the clearing was a huge Ghost.

No, not a Ghost. A Wraith.

It was sitting empty, abandoned in the Unggoys' haste to defend themselves.

"John," I pointed, "can we use that?"

He jerked his head towards it. "Go."

We ran together towards the Wraith. Well, I was flying. My ankle was still complaining, even without any weight on it.

John opened the hatch and dropped in. I followed.

"Can you drive it?" John asked.

I looked down at the confusing controls. "I...I don't think so."

"Can you shoot?" He gestured to the gunner's chair behind me.

"I can try."

He moved into the pilot's seat. I pushed myself up into the gunner's chair. It seemed to work like any other gun, not that I knew how to work any human _or_ Covenant guns.

It couldn't be that hard, could it? Point and shoot.

I took aim at the pack of crawlers. Pressed the largest round holographic button in front of me, praying it was the trigger and not some self destruct sequence.

A single shot, which reverberated throughout the whole Wraith, took all four of the crawlers out.

The next shot eviscerated the Unggoy.

John drove us through the door.

Another garbled transmission came through. This time, when it showed the _Song_'s position, they were right outside the entrance.

"John, they're almost out of time!"

John put on even more speed, rushing through the intricate hallways.

We rushed out into a similar complex as the first pylon. He slowed a bit to give me easier targets. "Target the shield generators. We need to hurry."

He drove us around the complex, dodging plasma fire. I shot down Prometheans and Covenant along the way. When we flew past the first shield generator I shot through it.

There was a pack of crawlers running towards us. Two shots killed all of them.

Take out that Banshee before it can shoot us.

The second generator was just ahead. I shot it, destroying it.

Only one more, and the shield around the beam controls would lower. Then John and I could move together and disable it. From there, we could warn the _Song_ away from the gravity well before they got torn apart.

A Sangheili lobbed a plasma grenade at us. It sailed cleanly through the hatch and into the cabin _right in front of me_.

"Bail out!" John pulled me out of the chair and all but threw me out of the hatch.

I caught myself in mid air, turning to see how John had fared. He tumbled out of the Wraith just as it exploded.

"John!" I landed roughly, crying out as pain tore up my leg from my ankle, and limped towards the wreckage.

John threw himself towards me from the smoke, bowling me over. One arm wrapped around my waist, the other caught us before we hit the ground.

A plasma round singed the canyon wall above us; it would have hit one of us if he hadn't tackled me.

He pushed himself up, pulling me with him. "How many shield generators are left?"

"Only one."

"Where?"

I pointed to our left. "Right there."

He pulled his suppressor off of his back. "Take it down, I'll cover you."

I lifted up into the air, flying slowly backwards for the generator. "Be safe."

"I will. Go!"

I turned around, picking up speed as I flew towards the generator.

When I reached it, the sphere of energy and light keeping the shield up, I looked around for something to destroy it with.

There, beside the remains of a Promethean, was a scattershot. Kind of like a human shotgun.

I reached out for it, wrapping it in ultrasound. It flew up into my hands.

I pulled it up to my shoulder, landing heavily on the ground.

I had to get this power generator offline.

I fired a round.

The recoil knocked me off my feet. I tumbled back, landing harshly on my butt. But I'd offlined the last generator.

"John! It's down!"

He shot through another Promethean knight. "Let's go."

He led the way towards a series of ramps. A knight dropped down next to me, blowing me back down the ramp. He shoved John into the wall and teleported away.

I floated myself off of the ground, grabbing John's hand. "Come on, there's no time to run!"

He lifted shakily into the air beside me; he had no practice flying. But that wouldn't stop him from trying.

We flew up together, following the path into the pylon controls.

There was a short hallway, leading to an elevator. Just as we reached the elevator, setting ourselves down on the ground, a comm from Captain Del Rio came through.

"UNSC _Song of the East_ to survivors, _Forward Unto Da-a-a-awn_. Reading faint IFF tags near the pla-a-anetary core. Do you read?"

John activated the elevator. "They know we're here."

"May-maybe we _can_ contact them," I ventured, "if they can locate us."

John knew that was a long shot, mostly wishful thinking, but he opened a comm. "_Song of the East_ this is Sierra one-one-seven. Do not approach Forerunner planet-"

"UNSC A-A-Asset," the Captain sounded tense, "we read you but you're bre-e-eaking up! Helm, increase speed by point-seven."

"Negative, _Song_, do _not_ approach. I repeat; _do not_ approach Forerunner planet."

They couldn't hear him, and merely said, "If you can hear u-u-u-us, keep transmitting."

John ran for the controls as soon as the elevator stopped. He was running so quickly that he was almost a blur in my eyes.

I limped behind him.

He reached into the controls, grabbing the piston and _pulling_. It was difficult for him; a testament to how heavy the rod was.

As desperate as our situation was, I couldn't help but admire the way his muscles flexed as he pulled the piston up. The fact that he could even _lift_ the heavy thing was impressive.

When he'd pulled it all the way up he braced himself, shoving it back down.

The beam cut out.

"Sierra one-one-seven to _Song of the East_, do you copy?"

No response.

"My suit's transmitter isn't strong enough," John realized. "Can you get us to the satellite?"

I nodded, pointing to the other end of the room. "I'm opening a portal now."

It appeared, a swirling black and blue mass, between two metal brackets. John ran through it first. I lifted off of the ground and moved into it, fighting off my disorientation.

We were on a walkway. Before us was the round satellite, hanging over the horizon like an imposing enemy.

I could feel Prometheans, and Covenant. Just ahead of us.

To the left and right, through doorways. They would lead us to the satellite.

"John, the Covenant is already here," I said in a not-quite-whimper.

"We need to get to the satellite."

I reached out. "There's less on the left."

He jerked his head.

As we walked over, he checked the ammo in his suppressor. It was almost empty.

I opened the door beside us. There was a brief ramp, up into a metal courtyard of sorts. I could still see the satellite to our right.

And so many enemies ahead of us.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: I decided to do two chapter this week, since I'm so bored and I feel like some of y'all are too. Hope you enjoyed them!**

**And as always, I love you guys so much!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

A Kig Yar ran past us, gunning down two crawlers. A knight assassinated a Sangheili, way off to our left. Two Unggoy teamed up on a watcher and took it down.

John and I were hiding just inside the entrance. We had all of that mayhem between us and the satellite.

I pointed to our right, where there was a metal pathway overhanging an abyss. "Those are the satellite contacts. Up on the platform."

We would have to go through the entire battlefield to reach them.

John scanned the courtyard. "Stick to the sides. Let's go."

I floated up, moving slowly behind him. There was no cover, but no one seemed to notice us anyway. They were too busy tearing into each other.

The controls were just ahead.

A single crawler snarled from in front of us, metallic hackles raised. John fired two shots, taking it out. He bent down and picked up the rifle from a dead Sangheili.

"There!" I pointed to the end of the long walkway, to the satellite controls.

John sprinted ahead of me, down the walkway. There were two consoles before the satellite.

I saw him put both hands on them, and I heard his comm. "_Song of the East_, this is Sierra one-one-seven of the UNSC _Forward Unto Dawn_, do you copy?"

His voice echoed back, distorted and demonic. It sent an unpleasant chill down my spine.

I walked up behind him and looked up at the satellite. It was rising up in front of us, impossibly big and dreadful.

"_Song of the East_ do you read?"

The hellish echo again.

The satellite was rising higher, above us, and coming apart at certain seams like a spherical puzzle. Orange light leaked out of the smooth splits.

Something, intangible to most, shifted within the satellite. Something deadly.

"John, get away from the consoles." My voice was full of fear.

John felt it too. He jerked his hands away and pulled his rifle out. "Find us an exit."

Something was moving within the satellite. Something massive, and ancient, and evil. It sent my heart into uncontrollable palpitations. My eyes were wide as the fear took root, making my body tremble.

"Tawny, find us an exit!"

I stumbled back, away from the satellite. I couldn't focus. My voice was desperate. "I-I _can't_. I don't know-"

John grabbed me and jumped off of the platform, hiding us behind a short half-wall. I curled in on myself and ducked my head.

A massive orange pulse boomed from the satellite, rushing through the planet's core.

No...it wasn't a satellite. It never was.

It was a cryptum, meant to hold a monster within. Meant to save the universe from his horrible self. Meant to contain the waves of _hatred_ I could feel within his heart, so strong they were physically tangible.

The Covenant were never after ships, they were after this cryptum. We just cracked it open for them. Released one of their gods; a Forerunner.

Ur-Didact was awake.

John looked over the half-wall, taking stock of the situation. I looked out and saw a small floating platform, with metal plates like petals, lowering from within the cryptum.

The Didact was within. As the petals opened he stood to his full height. He dwarfed even John; all Forerunners were tall, and he was absolutely no exception.

Oh, my god. This was _the Didact_. The ancient evil that the Librarian had warned us of a scarce few years ago.

I whimpered, pressing my back against the wall. My eyes were looking around wildly. A way out. There had to be a way out of here. We needed to _get out of here_.

John pressed himself back against the half-wall. I could feel his anxiety; he knew how awful the Didact was. He could feel how awful the Didact was.

So could I.

The Didact wasn't evil without cause, of course. Echoes of ancient torture rippled from his mind. So long ago, now, the pain itself was hard to remember. Instead, all that was left was the emotional agony the memories brought.

And from that agony, anger. Wrath. _Hatred_.

"So fades the great harvest of my betrayal."

His voice spun up even more terror in my soul. My breathing was quick and shallow, my eyes wide.

We were going to die here. That was it; our death was going to be at the hands of this monster.

Then he would subjugate the rest of the galaxy under his tyrannical rule.

"Even these beasts recognize what you were oblivious to, humans. Your nobility has blinded you, as ever."

Oh, god, he knew we were here.

The half-wall between us evaporated into orange particles. I whimpered, tears soaking into the lining of my helmet.

John shoved himself to his feet and took aim with the Covenant rifle he'd taken.

The Didact surrounded both of us in ultrasound. We couldn't move. We were stuck to move as he wished.

And _only _as he wished.

He drew us up, closer to him. I could feel him rooting through my mind; no one had _ever_ been in my mind before.

The way he rooted so thoroughly through my memories - _my memories_ \- made me feel sick. I tried to force him out, desperately struggling against the mental force in my head.

I could see John to my right, fighting against his restraint field. To no avail. He remained under the Didact's control.

The Didact couldn't control ultrasound himself, of course. The energy came from his suit. He didn't have powers like I did. _Everything_ powerful about him came from his suit.

Still, his restraints on me restricted my power. I couldn't break his hold on me, not with ultrasound and not with teleportation. Because he wasn't his powers, he couldn't be affected or weakened by them.

"The Librarian left little to chance, didn't she?" the Didact asked rhetorically. "Turning my own guardians...my own world...against me. But what _hubris_ to believe she could protect her pets from me forever."

The ultrasonic waves around me tightened. Painfully so. I groaned, trying to loosen his hold. I could barely breathe. John wasn't faring any better.

"If you haven't mastered even these primitives," the Didact nodded to the Covenant below us, "then Man has not attained the Mantle. Your ascendance may yet be prevented."

Where was he going with this? Was he going to kill us?

Would it be quick, or drawn out?

The torturously restrictive bindings around us seemed to suggest he had a sadistic streak.

He drew us in, even closer. I could hear John fighting against the bonds.

The pressure was so immense; it was making my vision go black around the edges. I felt g-forces that weren't there. It was hard to breathe, I was dizzy.

He was torturing us. Torturing John.

How _dare_ he hurt John? John had been through enough, dammit!

I sent out a brief, strong pulse at that thought. The Didact's hold on me flickered for a moment.

It came back twice as strong; a broken groan left my mouth as my body was compressed from every side.

Nothing made sense, I couldn't think. I couldn't focus. Nothing felt real. The pressure was too intense, it was messing up my mind.

We were in danger.

"Ah, not yet." The Didact admonished my escape attempt. His lips curled in a snarl.

He turned his hand, moving me around so he could study me. He picked at a particularly personal memory in my mind; my first time with John. It wasn't _his_!

"Time was your ally, humans. But now it has abandoned you. The Forerunners have returned."

The Didact's mask slid on, looking eerily similar to a skull.

"This tomb is now yours."

With a flick of his wrist he sent us flying. John managed to wrap himself around me as the Didact rose back up into his cryptum.

We hit a stone wall. It jarred my body, even with John shielding me. I cried out at the harsh impact.

We hit the ground hard. My vision cut out, and I felt my body go limp.

**oOOOo**

Fear. I felt fear. It wasn't mine.

I knew, for some reason, I was _supposed_ to be afraid. But I couldn't seem to remember why.

My side ached something awful. Whoever was carrying me - I was being carried, indeed - wasn't very courteous. It was bumpy and jarring.

Oh, _John_ was afraid. Truly afraid. For once in his life, he couldn't set his fear aside.

His terror seemed to hone his abilities. He moved too fast for me to truly perceive.

Which was good, because if he'd been a second slower a huge falling rock would have crushed us.

I was cradled in his arms as he ran through a collapsing canyon.

"John?" I looked around at our blurry surroundings. "What's happening?"

"Tawny, find a way out of here," he panted. He was panting from the physical exertion of running so fast that I felt like I was in a car with no windows.

But his words confused my still-waking mind. "What?"

I knew something serious was happening. I just couldn't remember _what it was_. It was right on the edge of my perception, taunting me.

"The Didact opened a slipspace portal; it destabilized the core," he explained in a rushed voice. "We need to get out of here, _now_."

Everything came flooding back. My eyes widened. "Oh, my god. O-okay. Um...there's a terminus th-through this next fork. Go right."

A deep split in the ground opened up before us. John leaped over it, landing as if he wasn't carrying an extra four hundred pounds.

There, right in front of us, was a terminus.

I set it to the nearest surface-level node. It lit up when we were scarcely a hundred feet in front of it.

John didn't hesitate. He jumped into the air and flew towards the portal.

Flew? He hadn't learned to fly yet; he was shaky by himself, and he was carrying me _and_ my suit.

But desperate times did call for desperate measures, I supposed.

The blue light of the portal engulfed us.

We reappeared atop a cliff. Flying right for the edge.

John rolled, wrapping an arm around me, and used his other hand to punch a hole in the ground. He latched onto the hole, using it to prevent us from going over the cliff edge.

Then he knelt above me, looking around at our surroundings.

I laid on my back, staring up at the sky. Tears were leaking out of my eyes, soaking into the lining of my helmet and falling back into my hair.

"Tawny?"

The Didact had been in my mind. He'd seen my memories. I couldn't stop him; I'd been completely helpless.

John looked up as something massive soared overhead. The _Song of the East_. It had survived the gravity well, somehow, but it was headed straight for the surface. It was going to crash.

It soared down, down, down, towards some random spot in the distance. I could hear its engines screaming.

"Mayday! Mayday! This is the Captain of the UNSC _Song of the East_. Unknown entity has seized control of our ship. We're without power, and on a collision course with an unidentified Forerunner planet!"

"Tawny." John looked back down, brushing the side of my helmet with his fingertips.

I whimpered. He'd been inside my mind; my deepest secrets were his.

John pulled me up, setting my back against a stone. He pulled my helmet off. Fresh air, completely unfiltered, filled my lungs.

John sounded worried. "What is it?"

I felt his armored thumb come up, wiping at the tears running down my cheeks.

The ground shook from the bottom of the cliff, behind us.

The cryptum - the Didact inside - rose up. John was on his feet in an instant, his Covenant rifle aimed at the massive orb.

I cried out, scrabbling backwards away from the Didact's vessel.

It floated up, scanning the ground all around us. The invasive orange light pulsed out from every side of the cryptum; there was no escaping it.

As the beam passed over me I started sobbing. "No, please-"

The cryptum pulsed once, taking off into the distance.

John followed it with his eyes. "It's going after the _Song_."

I tried to quiet my sobs, pushing my back against the rock.

"Tawny, talk to me." He knelt in front of me.

"The Didact." I struggled to clamp down on another sob. "He was in my mind. I couldn't stop him. He knows everything."

"'Everything'?" John sounded confused.

"He knows my whole life. All of it. He was there, in my head, a-and I could _feel_ him...but I couldn't get him out." I whimpered. "I couldn't do anything."

A brief, white-hot anger flashed through John.

He turned it into motivation and refocused. "We need to stop him. Can you tap into the planet and find the _Song_?"

I swallowed heavily, running my hand over my hair. It was still in a bun, save the strands that had been burned by the needler round.

I ripped it out of the chignon, watching the severed strands of the burnt hair fall onto my shoulder.

As I tied it back up, brushing the blackened hair out of my right eye, I nodded. "I think I can."

Tears were still wet on my face, but I wasn't crying anymore. I was focusing.

"We need to stop the Didact," John said.

"You're right." I closed my eyes, choking down my terror. "We need to get to the ship."

"So where is it?"

It was a fight to keep my breathing steady. "I'm not sure. Let me look…"

I tapped into the planet, which was almost like one big computer.

The ship wasn't particularly hard to find, what with its abundance of electrical systems and living creatures. It showed up on pretty much every kind of sensor.

"Okay, it's about fifty miles North."

John slid his rifle onto his back. "Can you make it?"

I wanted to say yes. I almost did.

Then I looked out over the cliffs before us. Beyond those, thick rainforests.

And my ankle was weak with pain, even while I was sitting down. It was a sharp, ever-present pain. No matter how my ankle rested, it _hurt_.

I chewed on my lip, trying to decide how to answer.

Fuck it, we needed to get down there. Like John said, there were things that had to get done. It didn't _matter_ if I could...I had to. So I _would_.

I met his eyes, hoping none of my terror leaked into them. "I can make it."

**oOOOo**

**Author's Note: This week felt so short! My alarm went off to update and I didn't even realize what it was for a second!**

**Also I haven't left my house in more than two weeks lol. I'm enjoying the down time, but since I'm still fighting writer's block for the next book it's a very bittersweet enjoyment. I have been drawing a lot though!**

**I love you guys sm!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

The jungle was humid and foggy and difficult to maneuver. The humidity didn't affect me, thanks to the temperature and condensation control in my armor, but still.

I'd grown tired of flying _several_ hours ago, so now I was limping behind John.

He tried to slow his pace for me, but he was eager to get to the _Song_ to try and defend it. So the pace was less than was comfortable for him and significantly more than was comfortable for me.

But I was fine; I had to be.

I wasn't a fool. John was a SPARTAN. He could have reached the ship in less than two hours if he was by himself. He had slowed himself considerably for me, even at this rushed pace.

He'd offered to carry me several times, like he had on Harvest - the first time I ever saw combat. But I'd grown since then. And I figured he needed his hands free in the jungle, for balance and whatnot.

And also my pride wouldn't let me accept his help.

So, there we were, moving at a relative snail's pace through the jungle. But the ship was close; I could feel it.

The question was; had it survived the landing? They'd almost certainly crashed, and even if they hadn't the Didact might have destroyed the entire ship upon landing.

We climbed over another tree root several times bigger than both of us.

I had to fly myself over; my ankle was thoroughly done with everything. Even walking on the relatively flat ground was painful enough to give me pause.

God, I was starving. And my whole body ached. My right side was still sore from when the Didact had thrown us across a room. My mind was screaming with fatigue; I'd been using my power too much.

Not that John was much better off than me. He had that burn on his side - it still hurt a little, I could tell - and he, too, was starving. He needed a lot more food than me, and the effects were really getting to him.

But he refused to let it show. As long as he was strong enough to fight, which he was, he wouldn't say anything about his own suffering.

He stopped. I almost bumped into him, and catching myself to avoid doing so made my ankle scream again.

My gaze lifted from the forest floor, following John's. There, in the midst of a huge valley cleared by the crash, was the UNSC _Song of the East_.

"I-it looks- he didn't...break anything?" I cocked my head in confusion.

John looked up at the floating cryptum, which had just scanned the ship. "Something tells me that's only because the Didact wants something from it."

Something in our ears crackled. "This is Lasky to UNSC _Song of the East_. We're up to our necks in bad guys down here, does anyone read?!"

It was a man, and he sounded desperate.

In addition, when John heard the man's name something flashed inside him. Recognition.

**He opened a comm. **"This is Sierra one-one-seven of the _Forward Unto Dawn_. We're on station, ready to assist."

The Didact scanned the ship again.

"Negative copy, sounded like you said '_Forward Unto Dawn_'? Come again-" Lasky's voice dissolved into static.

John straightened his back. "We're going to find Lasky. Stay behind me."

Going after Lasky was, unfortunately, the safest choice. We couldn't well go into the ship being held by the Didact. He would kill us on sight.

John must have lit up his suit's friend or foe tags, because he turned away from the _Song_ and said, "IFF tag nearby. Let's move."

We walked back into the thick jungle. I forced my exhaustion and raging hunger down. Lifted up into the air. We couldn't be slow anymore.

Even if we were both starving and dehydrated.

"_Song of the East_ to Commander Lasky." Captain Del Rio's voice filled out ears. "We've lost contact with your Pelicans. Report in!"

John led us over a small hill. Down into a thicket of massive tree roots. "They must not have received his distress call."

I lit up the friend or foe tags on my own HUD. Sure enough, a few meters away, there was a friendly tag.

My mind reached out. "John, I can't feel anyone down there."

Realization hit me; that meant whoever the tag belonged to was probably dead.

John ducked under an archway made by a root. There was a small clearing. Two bodies.

The first humans we'd seen in almost three years.

Funnily enough, the last human we'd seen was also dead. Sergeant Major Avery Johnson...I hoped he'd gotten the funeral of a lifetime. He deserved that, at least.

John knelt beside one of the bodies, picking up the IFF tag.

"'Paulo J. Jimenez'," he read. "Lasky's still out there."

I looked down at the fallen soldiers. "This looks like Prometheans."

John didn't respond. Just picked up an assault rifle from one of the dead men. The Covenant rifle he'd found had some ammo left, but not much.

He slid the assault rifle onto his back and kept the Covenant gun out, for now.

I felt deep, sick fear somewhere ahead. My stomach dropped. "John, there are marines up there."

"How close?"

"Really close. They're...they're surrounded by crawlers!" I realized with some more prodding. "We need to hurry."

I rushed through the thicket, ignoring the branches and wet leaves that slapped against my armor. The sounds of gunfire and battle were closer and closer.

As we reached the battlefield John ran out ahead of me. The Covenant rifle tore through the crawlers. He took down three in a few seconds, tossing a grenade towards another large group of them.

There was only one surviving marine. He was lying to my right, sprawled over a root. He had a sniper rifle out, aiming it at the crawlers. But I could see the blood running down the side of his head.

I landed next to him, on my knees. "Are you okay?"

He jerked. "The hell? _What_ are- I'm fine."

We both turned to look as more gunfire erupted. John shot down another crawler.

One jumped towards him, claws out and ready to tear through his armor.

Before I could cry out a warning John turned, grabbing the crawler by the neck and throwing it viciously across the clearing. Its body shattered against a root.

"A _SPARTAN_?! That's a SPARTAN!" The marine looked back at me with a giddy air about him. "I've never seen one in the flesh!"

John walked back to us. "We need to move. Do you know where the Commander is?"

The marine pushed himself to his feet. "Heard him on the comm, but I couldn't tell you where he's at now."

"Can you fight?"

"Hell yeah, I can fight. These metal bastards killed my squad; I'm lookin' to knock some heads!"

The marine was good at masking his grief with rage, but it was still there. His friends were dead.

John looked down at me. "Tawny, stay back."

I wanted to argue, but I knew I was growing more and more exhausted. Even flying myself was tiring.

My head hung. "Okay."

I could feel something nearby. Mechanical, with biological memories. Prowling towards us from the fog.

"John, there's a knight!" I pointed behind him.

He turned, emptying the rest of his ammo into the knight. We all watched as the knight dissipated into a swirl of orange dust.

John dropped the Covenant rifle and pulled out the assault rifle he'd found. "We need to move."

There was a path of sorts through the trees.

John led the way. The marine took up the rear. I was in the middle, protected and useless.

Completely useless.

Well...not entirely. I could still scout ahead with my mind; I would be able to feel any aliens, humans, or Prometheans before even John saw them.

I _did_ feel Prometheans.

"Wait," I whispered.

We'd reached a drop off into a bowl of sorts. The fog was so thick, it was hard to see much of anything inside it.

"What is it?" John didn't turn to face me, moving his gun slowly around.

"That valley's full of Prometheans. A-a pack of crawlers, and two knights."

John did turn then, looking at the marine. "How's your aim?"

"I didn't scavenge this gun, sir, it's mine." He held up his sniper rifle proudly.

"Take out the knights."

The marine shoved a magazine in his gun. "Knights are the big ones, right?"

John nodded.

"You got it." He crept forward and knelt right before the lip of the dropoff.

A single shot rang out, and I could feel a datapurge from below us.

The crawlers were quick to return fire. The marine scrambled away from the barrage of hardlight rounds. "Shit!"

John ducked behind a root, laying down heavy cover fire. "Find the other knight."

The marine set himself back up, scanning the bowl through his scope.

He would never find it; it was deep within the fog.

I knew where it was.

"Don't shoot me," I warned them.

"Tawny, _don't_-"

I didn't hear the rest of what John said. I'd teleported right behind the knight. I called a huge lightrifle to me, catching the knight's attention.

Before it could attack me I'd shot it right in the face. It collapsed into an orange dust storm; a datapurge.

I teleported back up to John and the marine. "Okay, I got the knight. There's only a few crawlers left."

"I told you to stay behind me." John's voice was harsh. Almost a yell. "That's _not_ behind me."

I took a few steps back. My ankle twinged. "I-I'm sorry. It's impossible to see through the fog, I thought I could...I thought I could help."

"Or you could get _killed_."

My lip curled. "I can-"

"You're weak. You haven't taken a break in hours."

"Neither have you!" I felt tears welling up in my eyes; I hated how scared John was for me. I hated that he was right.

"I'm a SPARTAN, Tawny. You're not."

"Clear!" The marine called. He'd taken out the rest of the crawlers while John and I were arguing.

He looked up at both of us.

Something - recognition - flashed through his mind. "Oh, you're-you're the Master Chief, ain't you? And you're Blue Five." He turned to me. "You're shorter than I thought."

"I'm what?" I glanced up at John to see if he had any idea what the marine was talking about. "'Blue Five'?"

"You and the Chief are martyrs. Sacrificed yourselves to secure the Ark. The only SPARTANs to die in the war." He paused. "Well, I guess you aren't, seein' as you're alive right now."

"SPARTANs…" I looked down thoughtfully. "I'm not a SPARTAN."

He blinked. "You're not? The Outpost said-"

John moved towards the drop off. "We need to find the Commander. We can worry about this later."

He jumped down.

The marine saluted me. "Sergeant Abram, it's an honor."

I floated up into the air, moving towards the edge. My hands were up in front of me. "Please don't salute me. I'm-I'm just a civilian."

"Huh?" I could feel his shock and confusion.

What had _happened_ while we were gone?

I landed beside John in the thick fog. There was an IFF tag ahead of us, past the bowl.

The Sergeant landed roughly next to me.

John nodded ahead. "There's a tag up there. Let's move."

We moved together across the valley. Then we reached another wall of earth. John wasted no time, grabbing a protruding stone and pulling himself up. The Sergeant followed suit.

I lifted up into the air. My strength gave out for a second, and I nearly crashed back into the ground. I held back a groan as I resumed the strain on my mind, forcing myself higher and higher. There was no way I'd be able to climb that wall myself.

My chest was heaving when I landed. I tried to steady my breathing; John was worried for me enough. We weren't safe yet, so I would have to be okay and _not_ distract him.

There was a dead marine on the ground.

John picked up the tag. "'Lucile H. Ball'."

"Damn." Sergeant Abram put his hands on his hips. "I knew her. Damn best pilot I ever knew."

"Pilot?" I turned to him. "Did she fly Pelicans?"

"Sure did." He wiped at the blood that was slowly coagulating on the side of his head.

John knew what I was thinking about the pilot. "She could have been with Lasky."

"Maybe he's close." I looked down at the body with regretful eyes. "She just died."

John nodded towards the trees in front of us. "Anything ahead?"

"I don't know. Let me see." I limped forward a bit. My hand came up to press against a huge root, steadying myself as my eyes closed. "There's a knight ahead, with a pack of crawlers."

I felt something else, though. My eyes widened. I turned back to the soldiers.

"There's humans! They-they're inside a Forerunner structure!"

"Are they safe?" John asked.

"I think they're hiding inside."

John checked his ammo. "We're going to assist them. Stay _behind_ me, Tawny."

I looked away.

"Tawny."

"Fine." I bit my lip. "I'll stay back."

"I'm serious."

"I know," I muttered. I could feel how serious he was.

He started walking again. "How far ahead?"

"About a thousand feet? Close, b-but not too close yet."

"Let's go."

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: I'll be updating Chipped: The Rewrite as quickly as I can, I promise. In the meantime, please enjoy your regularly scheduled Chained!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

John had told me to stay back. He meant it. If I jumped into danger this time, he would actually lose it. He was so scared for me.

But Sergeant Abram was about to get shot in the back.

I whispered, "I'm sorry, John," and teleported to a spot right behind the Sergeant.

The crawler hissed when it saw me, alerting the Sergeant to its presence.

He turned, stumbling back a bit. "Oh, shit!"

I threw my hand out and made a fist. Ultrasonic waves surrounded the crawler and pulverized it.

The Sergeant stared at its remains with wide eyes. "How did you…?"

I winced. "Don't tell John."

"Sure...thing?"

I teleported back to my tree root.

My neck craned to find John. He was across the way, on the back of a knight, underneath a huge, arched tree root.

The knight teleported away from him. He began looking around to see where it would reappear.

Something hit me from behind, sending me flying out into the clearing. I cried out, sprawling over the ground.

My chest felt bruised from the impact; it was already sore from landing on Requiem's surface so many hours ago.

I rolled over just in time to see the Promethean knight charging me, the hardlight sword on its arm preparing to stab me through.

I cried out again, this time in fear, and held my hands up above me. Waves pulsed out and surrounded the knight, locking it in place.

I looked over my arms, my chest heaving. It was completely immobilized in the air above me.

I scrambled to my feet, hardly noticing the pain in my ankle as I did so. I crept backwards, away from the knight, with my arms held out in front of me. My eyes were wide with acute terror.

I made a crushing motion with my hands. The knight compacted into a ball of metal.

As soon as I released my hold on the remains they evaporated in an orange datapurge.

John was there, grabbing my arm. "Are you alright?"

I exhaled shakily. "Yeah, I'm good. The-the soldiers are up there." I pointed to the structure up the hill. "Just inside the building."

"Come on." He wrapped his left arm over my shoulders.

Our hands were intertwined. My arm was at an awkward angle to hold his; it was worth it.

I wrapped my right arm around his waist and leaned my head against his arm, letting him take some of my weight. My ankle felt like it would collapse if it took any weight at all.

It didn't, obviously, because I walked up the hill with John's assistance just fine. It hurt worse than the injury really was.

We came out of a cavern of roots. There was a dropped IFF tag by the doorway.

I closed my eyes. "Nine people inside."

The door opened and three SPARTANs walked out, their guns up. They walked past us, scanning the surroundings.

They weren't SPARTANs like I'd ever seen, and John didn't recognize their IDs on his HUD; his confusion was clouding up the air around him.

Did they make more SPARTANs?

These were kidnapped children, too. But they were _still_ children.

A young man with brownish-black hair walked out. "Afraid we're going to have to give you an IOU on that welcome home party."

He walked forward and offered John his hand.

"Tom Lasky, first officer of the _Song_. Never thought I'd see you again."

He knew John. The recognition had intense emotions. Pain, terror, grief. Almost exactly like Commander Orenski's recognition of Blue Team.

I wondered if it was related.

There was a man...no, a boy...in blue armor to our right. He had his rifle up. "Alright NOBLE, seal her up."

Inside the structure, which we were all walking into, was a marine by a transmitter.

A broken comm came through, "...all ground forces are ordered to return to _Song of the East_ immediately!"

It was Captain Del Rio.

"Commander! Radio's hot!" The marine waved us over.

We walked up to the transmitter. John lowered me down onto the ground, with my back to the wall.

I once again tried to roll my right ankle, even a little bit, but it made a harsh complaint known. Pain flared up my leg; I couldn't move my foot.

The Captain sounded tense on the radio. "What frequency, damnit?!"

Lasky knelt beside the boxy radio. "_Song of the East_, this is Commander Lasky. Pelican recon teams are down. Repeat, all birds are down. We've got numerous casualties and require immediate assistance. Over."

"Finally." the Captain sounded agitated. "Did you get the coordinates to that gravity well?"

The question seemed to catch Lasky off guard. "Affirmative, sir, but we're going to need a bus out of here."

The Captain's tone was short and clipped. "Make it happen."

John was in a minor state of disbelief. "You were sent to do recon while the _Song_ is engaged in combat?"

His disapproval was tangible even to the non-empathetic people around me. It made some of them wince, even though they knew they weren't the focus of his displeasure.

I forgot how intimidating he was.

Lasky sighed. "The Captain thought they could provide us cover and hold off the attack at the same time."

The child in blue armor - I could feel how young he was, and he was only a teenager - stepped forward. "We can't stay here, sir."

Both the child and Lasky looked over to a marine who was sweaty with pain, lying behind the radio to my left.

Lasky thought for a moment. I could feel his emotions fluctuating as he mulled over various plans.

With another sigh he pushed himself to his feet. Looked up at John. "I don't know if it's too soon to ask you for a favor, but we're running out of breathing room here real quick."

He smiled a bit.

"I don't suppose you're any good at clearing LZs?"

John nodded. "On occasion."

The Commander smiled. He would have laughed, if the situation was any less tense. "Take NOBLE Team with you."

"I'll send out an all-clear once the area's secure," John assured him.

A tall SPARTAN - he towered over John by a foot - walked up. He drew his fingers across John's face in a SPARTAN smile.

"Glad to see you're alive, Chief." He had an interesting accent. Slavic, maybe?

John clapped his shoulder, a very resigned gesture in comparison to the joy I could feel in his heart. "Jorge."

Jorge was a SPARTAN like John, not like the new ones. He was an adult.

John turned to me. "Stay with the Commander."

I bit back an argument. I was exhausted and hurt; I would definitely be a liability out there. He had six other SPARTANs with him, so he would be okay.

Right?

I pushed myself to my feet, gritting my teeth against the pain. "Please be safe."

"You know me." John brushed the side of my helmet with his fingers. "I'll be back soon."

He turned to the six SPARTANs. One our age, five still children.

"Let's move."

They walked out together.

I was left with Commander Lasky, Sergeant Abram, an injured marine with a broken leg, and the marine working the radio.

I lowered myself shakily back to the ground and pulled my helmet off. I was distinctly aware of how awful I looked; tear-stains tracking through dusty grime. Burnt hair. I was sure my jaw was bruised, too.

"Chief seems to like you."

My eyes shot up to look at the Commander. "Oh. Yeah."

"I'm glad to see him safe."

I looked down at the dark blue helmet in my lap. "How do you know him?"

Lasky regressed into his memories for a bit. "He saved me back when I was a cadet on Circinius IV. I was one of three to make it off of the planet with him, when the Covenant attacked."

"I'm...sorry."

He shook his head and held a hand up. "It's in the past now. So what's your story? You look like Blue Five."

I perked up a bit. "What _is_ Blue Five? S-Sergeant Abram mentioned it, but I don't know what he meant."

"Everyone's heard about Blue Five and the Master Chief. The martyrs of Blue Team. The last SPARTANs to die in the war, and the only SPARTANs listed KIA."

"But...I-I'm not a SPARTAN."

"I know." He was deep in thought. "You're civilian."

I nodded.

"You're on the field, though. I've read your file; special powers and all. Maybe the UNSC disguised you as a SPARTAN for the documents released to the public."

"So wait." I took a moment to process. "You're saying Blue Team is...famous?"

He nodded. "The symbol of the UNSC."

"So they're all okay? Kelly and Fred and Linda?"

"Yeah, they're alright as far as I know. Just got transferred to the SPARTAN Branch a little less than a year ago."

"'SPARTAN Branch'?"

"You've been out for awhile." He sat down by the radio. "With all of the SPARTAN IIs, and the hypothetical SPARTAN IVs, they made a separate branch."

But those weren't the only SPARTANs. There were a lot of IIs, yes, about 70. But that wasn't enough to constitute a whole branch. And Lasky said the IVs were hypothetical, which meant there weren't any right now.

Which meant the branch was - probably - full of those children.

"You _do_ know that those SPARTANs, o-on NOBLE Team, are children, right?" I pressed.

Lasky sighed. I could feel his guilt. "All I know is the IVs are supposed to be consenting adults."

I looked down. "That doesn't help the...would that make those children IIIs?"

He sighed again. "If you ask, ONI will tell you about their IIIs. But _only_ if you ask. Otherwise, as far as most are concerned, those five are IIs."

My head fell back against the wall. "This war cost so much for so many."

"I'm just glad it's over. The Covenant splinter factions are easier to mop up than the real thing."

I let my eyes close. I could feel exhaustion dragging at my mind.

Since we'd woken up, John and I had fought enemies almost nonstop. First it was the Covenant, then Prometheans.

The only break from combat we had was when we were trekking across the planet.

And the trek wasn't easy, either, with hunger and dehydration and my ankle. It was only slightly less perilous than being literally shot at.

I blinked heavily, sitting up. I rubbed my face with the palms of my hands, trying to use the rough fabric and armor to wake myself up. Don't let your mind wander...don't think about-

"How long have you two been down here?"

I looked up at the Commander's question. "A few hours. We woke up in the _Dawn_ right before it got sucked into the gravity well. When we got your comms w-we tried to warn you, but there was too much interference."

My eyes fell to my legs. _Don't_ think about...too late.

"By the time we cleared it up…" My stomach churned when I thought about the Didact.

He could have killed us if he wanted. He was playing some sort of demented game with us - with all of us. I was terrified to learn what it was.

I couldn't meet Lasky's eyes. "How many people died in the crash?"

"Eight." His answer was immediate, like he'd been thinking about it as well.

I felt tears well up.

Eight people had died. The Didact had already killed eight people.

I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too." Lasky's voice was low.

I felt a sob coming up. I choked it down.

"You and the Chief seem pretty close."

I nodded and scrubbed my eyes. "We are."

I wanted to say more, maybe about how we were both Revivers, but then I remembered; John hadn't told anyone. It wasn't my place to share his secret.

"Wish I didn't have to send him out like that, but we need a way out of here," Lasky said apologetically.

"I understand." I fell back against the wall and stared at the ceiling with half-lidded eyes. "The Captain wasn't very accommodating."

"He gets like that. There's a lot on his shoulders."

"Like the safety of his men. I can see how worried he is for all of you." My tone was unusually dry.

Lasky didn't respond.

My thoughts started to wander. "I...I never meant for this to happen. First-Light warned us about the Didact. I never thought we'd be the ones to let him out."

"_You_ let him out?"

I ran my tongue over my lips. They were dry and cracked.

"Yeah, we let him out," I admitted in a low tone. "He disguised his cryptum as a satellite...we tried to use it to warn you away from the gravity well."

"And that let him escape."

"We did all the hard work for him." My face crumpled, tears once again spilling over. Making tracks in my dusty face. "I never meant for any of this to happen."

"Hey." Lasky sat forward. "No one blames either of you. You were just trying to warn us."

The radio buzzed. "Sierra one-one-seven to Lasky, LZ is secure."

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! Just a reminder that I will be taking down the original Chipped in a week and making Chipped: The Rewrite the official first book in the series!**

**Love y'all! :)**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty One**

Lasky perked up at John's comm. "They did it."

Indeed they did. I couldn't help the burst of elated relief that John was okay.

Of course, I knew he was capable on his own, but it felt weird and bad for us to be separated when he was knowingly walking into a firefight.

Lasky surged forward, pressing the radio. "Roger that, Chief. I'll get you the coordinates for the-"

"Mayday! Mayday!" Captain Del Rio interrupted. "Code red! Hostile elements attempting to gain entrance to the _Song of the East_'s bridge!"

I shared a glance with Lasky; that didn't sound good at all.

I wiped my eyes as best as I could as the radio filled with chatter. None of it sounded good; they'd breached the bridge.

"They", if I had to guess, was the Prometheans. Though John and I had seen plenty of Covenant vessels on our way over. I wouldn't be surprised if they were in on it too.

"All units return to _Song of the East_ immediately! That's an order!"

Lasky sighed, looking around as he formulated a plan. "Chief, you have tactical command of the forward assault force. Take NOBLE, rendezvous at rally point Alpha Sierra Foxtrot, and take back the ship."

"Yes, sir." John sounded so determined.

"Good luck, Chief. Lasky out."

He turned around to Sergeant Abram and the marine that wasn't injured.

"Can one of you help Johsia? We're hoofing it to the LZ."

I pushed myself up, my breath hitching as my side pulled. "I can pull- I can carry him."

"How- are you sure?" Lasky turned and looked me up and down. "You look beat."

"Oh, I am." I pulled my helmet on. "But my leg isn't broken. Come on, Johsia, we're getting you out of here."

"Glad to hear it." Johsia sat up.

"You should lay down."

"Pardon?"

"I-I mean...you _can_ sit up, but it's easier if you're laying down."

He held up a hand. "Listen, lady, if you're about to carry me in your arms-"

"I'm not." I held out a hand and wrapped him in a loose bubble of ultrasound. It was actually easier to lift him than it was to fly myself; he weighed about half what I weighed in my armor.

"What the fuck?!" He looked down at the ground like he expected to hit it. When he didn't, his eyes lifted to me. "Is this _you_?"

I turned to the Commander. "How far is the LZ?"

"Not far. Let's move, marines."

We walked together out of the building. Lasky had a handgun.

He glanced over at the marines. "Weapons free. We don't know how clear the path is."

There was only one uninjured marine. Sergeant Abrams, for all that he could walk and shoot alright, had lost a lot of blood from his head wound.

I had yet to see the actual wound, but the coagulated blood coating the whole side of his head wasn't a good indicator.

Still, though, he had his sniper rifle up and was ready to shoot at anything orange and grey, which is what mattered.

I limped between him and the uninjured marine, floating Johsia out in front of me. He'd laid down so it was easier for me to balance him.

Still, that didn't mean it was easy. I'd pulled my helmet on to free up my hands, but also to hide the strain on my face.

We were moving down a steady incline. My ankle was complaining heavily. I tried to keep it quiet, but my breath was heavy. I was full-on panting by the time we reached a relatively flat area.

It was a long, winding path through the trees. I limped along after the Commander, who'd taken point. The Sergeant and other marine were behind us, occasionally turning around to check our six.

My arm was shaking. I had it out a bit, keeping hold of Johsia. My chest was heaving as I struggled to keep him afloat.

No, don't think about it. Focus on how bad your ankle hurts.

Focus on the pain, it can distract you from how tired you are. How _exhausted_ you are. How every step feels like it's weighted.

There was a rock. I only discovered that when my right foot came down on it. My ankle gave out with a sharp burst of agony.

I landed harshly on the ground with a shrill scream. I heard a pained cry as Johsia hit the muddy path.

"Alright, you're too tired for this." Lasky was there, helping Johsia up, even as he spoke to me. "Dion, come help him. Tawny, can you walk?"

"I'm fine." I shoved myself to my feet.

It was impossible to ignore the pain in my ankle, though. I tried to covertly put all of my weight on my left leg.

Lasky noticed. I saw him scan me, noting my body language. "We're not far. Come on."

Sergeant Abram took up the rear by himself. Dion was in front of me, with Johsia's arm over his shoulders. He was helping the wounded marine walk.

I should have been able to carry him. Instead, I _dropped_ him. I dropped an injured person on the ground.

Granted, he wasn't very high. It didn't hurt him.

But still.

I limped sullenly behind them.

Turns out, John and NOBLE Team had cleared the way, instead of sneaking through. We passed several crawler corpses. We met no opposition.

We made our way through a Forerunner doorway and into a stone valley. The LZ.

Lasky radioed for evac. Then he turned to us. "First priority's getting the wounded to medical. Sergeant, can you fight?"

"I'm all yours, sir." Abram nodded, determined to ignore his dizziness.

"Good. Dion, get Johsia and Tawny to the _Song_'s medical ward and report back to me as soon as you can."

Dion saluted. "Yes, sir."

"Alright, that's our ride." Lasky looked up as a Pelican circled. "I want Johsia on the stretcher."

The Pelican landed, extending its ramp. It had two stabilizing legs on the rear that lowered when it landed; that was new.

We climbed in and Dion helped Johsia settle on the stretcher.

I sat down across from Lasky, who'd pulled out a datapad. "Commander, I-I don't need medical treatment. I'm just tired."

"Nice try. I saw the way the Chief helped you in. Your ankle-"

"Is _fine_."

Jesus, why was I so snappy?

I looked down and softened my tone. "I'm fine. I just need to rest; I'm not taking resources and time away from people who actually need it."

Lasky conceded. "Just make sure you get it checked out when all of this dies down."

I didn't respond. I knew what the nurses would say; it was sprained. It had been sprained several times before. I knew how to handle it.

Lasky pressed the comm in his ear. "One-one-seven, Lasky. Proceed to starboard hangar two-dash-one-nine and we'll link up with you there."

I didn't hear John's response.

As soon as we landed Lasky was out of the Pelican. "I need ammo! Dion, med bay!"

Dion helped Johsia stand. "Come on, let's go."

We all limped out into the hangar. It was full of tension; I could feel it all. It was almost physical, coming from all around me.

I just hoped the Didact wouldn't attack either John or me while we were separate. We'd hardly stood a chance together, let alone apart.

Not that I could be of much use to _anyone_ right now, in any situation, much less against an all-powerful Forerunner.

We walked through the slightly less busy hallways. Some of the doors didn't work, and _none_ of the shuttles worked, so we were taking the long way.

I pulled my helmet off, wrapping my arms around it like it was a stuffed animal. My eyes were on the ground. "Johsia, I'm sorry I dropped you."

"It hurt like a bitch." Johsia was mad, and in pain. "Don't say you can do something you can't, yeah?"

"Yeah." I bit my lip.

There was the medical ward. Dion helped Johsia get settled in with an overworked medic.

I found a relatively empty wall and limped over, sliding down. My head fell back against the wall and my eyes closed.

I was so tired...I hardly cared that we could die at literally any minute.

Of course, I was worried for John. No amount of exhaustion would ever make me apathetic towards his well being.

But the rest of the ship? Myself?

I was entirely too fatigued to be able to care.

My eyes closed. My mind began to wander. Not just my thoughts...my perception.

Suddenly, I was seeing things blurrily from the eyes of a nearby medic. Then I could feel the ship's crippled systems. The emotions in the room became even more tangible.

I was so exhausted, my control over my powers was slipping.

Someone was talking to John through a comm. I listened to it, my grip on reality slipping. I was half-asleep.

"Master Chief? This is Del Rio. Lasky just radioed. You picked a _hell_ of a time to rejoin us!" The last part was a condescending yell.

I bristled; how dare he talk to John like that?

John didn't seem to care. "Sir, what's our status?"

"That satellite took down the ship's defenses and is extracting data from the ship's mainframes as we speak."

It was true, I could feel it stealing data.

John was quick with a solution, though. "Can we break the connection?"

"Main point of contact's on the ship's upper hull. The fastest route is through the maintenance causeway. There's a Mantis docked inside the door. Take it; you'll need the extra firepower."

Maybe I could still be useful.

Technokinesis used almost none of my energy; it was the big stuff like telekinesis that drained me.

I connected to John's suit. He immediately tensed, feeling the foreign entity.

"Don't freak out." I didn't speak aloud. I spoke into his suit's comm system; it felt almost like talking in someone's mind. "It's just me."

"Tawny?" I could hear him like he was right next to me.

"Yeah. I'm kinda beat. I can't do much in terms of fighting, but maybe I can still help you get the Didact out of the ship's systems."

"Where are you?"

"In a medical ward. I'm fine, though."

I was completely blind. I began looking for a camera in his suit; I knew MJOLNIR had helmet cams.

"Are you safe?"

"Is anywhere on the ship safe?" I shot back. "I'm not near any active fighting, so that's good."

Ah, there was the helmet cam. I tapped into it.

John was climbing up into a huge suit of armor at least fifteen feet tall. A Mantis, like the Captain said.

"Stay away from any active zones," he said.

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving where I am. It's you I'm scared for."

"I'll be fine." He moved the Mantis down a ramp and blew open a doorway.

The entrance to the maintenance halls, I realized.

He moved the hulking exosuit into the large hallway. There was a team of Unggoy. As soon as they saw him they began running desperately away.

He shot through them, knowing that if he didn't someone else would. Or, if nobody did, they would eventually try to sabotage us.

He had to fight his way through sparse Covenant patrols. A few Promethean knights.

So the Covenant _was_ working with the Didact.

Not that I was surprised by that fact; he was one of their gods. And he was a megalomaniac. He would jump at the opportunity to gain even more followers.

Just as John reached a service elevator, Lasky came through the comms. "Chief, it's Lasky, come in!"

"Go, Commander."

"We've identified several Covenant jamming devices on the outer hull."

John took a guess, one that was probably spot on. "That's how they're blocking the ship's defenses."

"Exactly what we were thinking," Lasky agreed. "Neutralize them so we can get our guns back online and show that satellite we're more than just a big paperweight."

"Understood, Commander. Chief out."

Hopefully the _Song_ would have enough firepower to drive the cryptum away.

I reached out, feeling for the jammers as John moved the Mantis towards the outer hull. He was nearly there.

"Okay, John, I found the jammers. There's a small Covenant squad guarding them."

He walked out onto the sunlit hull. "Light them up on the HUD."

I...didn't know how to do that.

I quickly began scanning the HUD's abilities; there were a lot. Normally I appreciated how much the armor could do, but now it was a huge pain in my back.

"Sorry," I apologized, "I had to figure out how to do it. There you go."

I painted the three jammers on his HUD.

"Thanks."

John took the first two jammers down as easily as he took down the Unggoy guarding them. There was a single Sangheili, who died just as quickly as his underlings. Oh, and two Banshees.

They were circling above John, firing down on him.

He simply turned the guns upward and shot them out of the sky. Careful to avoid the flaming wreckage as it slammed down onto the ship's hull.

As John destroyed the last jammer I could feel the ship's systems jump back to life. Of course, I could also feel the Didact grow more desperate in his treasure hunt through the ship's systems.

"Del Rio to Master Chief. The rate that thing's searching our systems just doubled! I think it knows what you're up to!"

John looked up as a Phantom approached. It dropped off several Unggoy and a handful of Kig-Yar. A trio of Sangheili.

They were trying to reset the jammers. Make the _Song_ defenseless once more to the Didact's physical and digital conquest.

If I'd been in my body I would be tense. But I wasn't. Much like when I controlled a large number of other people, the only brain activity that would register in my body were the most basic of functions.

Most of my conscious mind was in John's suit. Some of it was scanning the systems around him. None of it was in my body.

"Del Rio to one-one-seven. The MAC network's reading operational but our EM relays are malfunctioning. You'll have to initiate the link manually."

"On it, Captain." John razed a squad of Unggoy with the gun on the Mantis. Kept firing in an arc that cut down several Kig-Yar and at least one Sangheili.

He made fighting almost like an art. Moved with such a grace, a practiced ease, that it was easy to forget that he was in danger of being killed, too.

When the last of the Covenant soldiers were dead, John had the suit crouch down. It was still several feet taller than him.

He jumped out, landing heavily on the ground, and walked over to the MAC controls. He pressed the button to activate them. I could feel the system surge to life.

An Unggoy fired at John. He turned, pulling the energy sword off of his thigh, and cut through the Unggoy. The arc continued and lobbed the head off of an approaching Kig-Yar.

That was all of the Covenant forces threatening the hull.

John looked up as the MAC gun recalibrated. Then it took aim at the Didact's cryptum, which was hovering in front of the ship.

Del Rio came over the comms. "Forward MAC batteries, get that damn orb away from my ship. All cannons, fire at will."

Everything shook around John as the MAC gun before him fired. Even the less powerful guns on the ship were unloading on the cryptum. I could see orange ripples where the rounds hit the satellite.

It began ascending.

"He's retreating," I sighed. Tension melted from me in waves.

John watched as the cryptum floated up, turned away from us, and flew off. It was out of sight in seconds.

There was silence for a moment.

"Del Rio to _Song of the East_, all hands. We are Condition Yellow. Stand down. Section heads report in, begin damage assessment."

"So that's it, then." I was still only talking to John.

"For now."

"Yeah, for now," I agreed. "When do you think he'll be back?"

"Too soon," John said.

I could see him walking towards one of the more widely-used doorways to the ship.

With all the systems back online, he could use the regular walkways instead of machine-inhabited maintenance tunnels.

"I'm coming to you, where are you?"

I put a little map of the ship in the corner of his HUD. Then I pinned myself, and him, and made a little dotted trail. "Across the ship from you. Wow. Glad the shuttles are working again."

"You need to rest."

I began slowly pulling out of John's suit. Now, there were absolutely no distractions to keep me from feeling the crushing pain and fatigue throughout my entire body.

The last thing I remember doing before I fully fell asleep was murmur, "Yeah, I think I'll do that."

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Here's a second chapter, since the last one felt short for some reason. Idk. Also I just like posting chapters lol.**

**I'm trying to stick to a schedule, tho, so I'll refrain from posting a third chapter this week. Maybe.**

**Anyway, I love you guys! :)**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty Two**

I felt amazing.

I mean, my body was still sore. But after sleeping, my strength was fully restored. I felt like I could implode another false-sun.

My eyes opened. "Where...am I?"

I was alone, in a dark room. It looked like someone's personal quarters.

I was still in my armor. My helmet was on the table next to the bed. Maybe I could comm John.

I pushed myself up, feeling my side pull, and grabbed the helmet.

I noticed that the Domain, as weak as it was on this planet, was building up around me. I couldn't say if something good or bad was about to happen, but something was definitely about to happen.

As soon as I slid the helmet on I opened a private channel. "John?"

He heard me.

"Tawny."

I turned, letting my sore legs dangle off of the bed. "Where are you?"

The door's intercom buzzed. I pushed myself up and limped over to it. My ankle did _not_ like moving, or having weight on it, or even existing at all.

My thumb pressed the PTT button. "Who is it?"

"It's me."

I knew that voice. "John!"

I unlocked the door and watched it slide open. My arms were latched around his waist as soon as I could reach him.

"I'm so glad you're okay. How long was I out?"

"Eleven hours." He stepped into the room and let the door close us in. "The _Song_ is almost airworthy."

"Wow, they repaired it fast."

I tried to make my limp as small as possible as I walked back to my bed.

I sat down, patting the space next to me. "Come on, I'm pretty sure this bed is meant for SPARTANs. I'm not exactly light in this armor myself."

I knew that John, and all the SPARTANs, needed special, strengthened beds to support their fully-armored weight. It was hard to believe it, but John was on the smaller side of average for a SPARTAN.

SPARTAN II, I corrected myself. There were new SPARTANs...young SPARTANs.

The oldest SPARTAN III I met yesterday was only sixteen years old. And he'd been a _lot_ older than the others on his team.

John sat next to me, derailing that train of thought. He was looking down at me with an unreadable expression, full of an unreadable emotion.

"How's your side?" I asked.

John nodded. "It's fine."

And I could feel, though his emotions, that it really was a minor injury. His skin wasn't even broken.

But the burn on the ribs of his biosuit looked so terrifying.

"So...what did they say about my ankle?"

John handed me an apple. "Nothing. I brought you here when I found you."

"Oh." I pulled my helmet off and took a bite. "Thanks. I know what they're going to say, anyway."

He looked down at me as if to ask what they would say.

"It's sprained. It gets sprained a lot, I know what to do with it." I swallowed the mouthful of fruit and shrugged. "Until this is dealt with, though, I can handle it. I'll just take it easy."

He wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close. "You may not get that choice."

"I may not," I agreed. "But that doesn't really matter. We have to keep the Didact from leaving Requiem."

"Can you close the outer surface?"

I looked away. "I could. But the Didact could just...his mind was so powerful."

He'd rooted through my memories like it was nothing. Even when I tried to force him out, I couldn't. I barely managed to hold him off for a wimpy moment.

Surely he would be able to force the planet to open, even if I was trying to keep it closed. Or he could just jump to slipspace inside the atmosphere.

It would be dangerous for the local ecosystem, but I couldn't imagine him caring about that. I'd felt his presence in my mind; he cared only for Forerunner ascendancy.

My eyes closed, and I pressed my face into the side of John's armor. "I couldn't stop him."

John reached up with both hands and pulled his helmet off. He set it down next to himself, on the end of the bed, and looked down at me with serious eyes. "I won't let him hurt you."

I bit my lip. "You...you may not be able to stop him either."

His jaw was tight. He didn't say anything, just pulled me close. He buried his face in my hair.

I remembered the feeling in the Domain. It could very possibly mean that one of us, or both of us, wouldn't make it out of this fight alive.

"It doesn't matter what happens to us." I moved my head up, pressing my forehead to his. "We have to stop him."

John's bright blue eyes drilled into mine. I held them for a moment before my eyes fell to the rest of his face.

He had the remnants of freckles on the bridge of his nose, and in a mask under his eyes. There were faded acne scars along his jaw. A scar under his left eye, long and thin. A small scar on his right lip.

A huge red, surgical scar over the bridge of his nose, moving up to run parallel with his cheekbones for a time. A testament to the horrors he'd been subjected to as a child, the horrors that he was able to endure because of those.

When I pulled back I could see his short brown hair.

It was barely dark enough to be called brown, and barely short enough to be called a buzz cut anymore; he hadn't cut it the month we were alone on the _Dawn_. His jaw was stubbled; he'd tried to keep it shaved but supplies were limited.

The massive cut running down the left side of his face was mostly scar tissue that was fading fast.

He had so many injuries...

I reached down, touching the burnt biosuit above his ribs with tentative fingers. "Does it still hurt?"

"I'm fine."

"That's not what I asked."

He shot me a look. "It's fine. I don't notice it."

"But it hurts," I clarified.

He didn't respond. His hand moved down the side of my face, the metal-coated fingertips cold and somehow soft.

I pushed myself up, pressing my lips to his. My free hand ran over his hair as he pulled me closer and deepened the kiss.

His emotions were wild, meshing with my own to create an intoxicating blend only I could feel.

Then something inside of us shifted. Something deep and profound. Something that I could feel, on a deeper level than I'd ever felt other peoples' emotions.

He was attuned to my emotions.

I pulled back, looking up at him with wide eyes.

He looked contemplative and a bit introspective, and very confused. "I feel…"

"You feel me." I looked down, trying to figure out what had happened. "And...and I feel you. I feel you more than I've ever felt anyone else before."

"How?"

I shook my head. "I don't know."

I wracked my mind for some sort of explanation. This feeling...it was somehow more intense than all of the other emotions I'd been able to feel over the years from other people.

But the feelings were distinctly _John's_. It was like there was a part of him in me, and a part of me in him. We were connected.

"I...maybe..." I looked down. "First-Light told me, w-when we first met, that you were the one 'my destiny is with'."

"What's that supposed to mean?" John was confused, but now he could feel that I had a theory.

"W-well...it's kind of dumb. I...I was thinking. We may be soulmates. It's not something real, usually, but neither is most of the stuff we can do. I-it...it would explain a lot."

"Like what?"

"Like...your flash clone's death. When I- when I thought it was you. I _thought_ I took it so hard because your parents did."

I looked down, trying to phrase this right.

"I mean, I-I didn't really know you," I continued. "So I couldn't understand why it stuck with me for so long. But maybe it's because we're meant, somehow, to be with each other."

Now that I was saying it out loud, it sounded stupid.

"It's not stupid."

My eyes shot up. "Did you…?"

He must have felt my emotions.

Of course he did, there was no "must have".

What was happening to us?

"The Librarian said the Domain took over what she started," John said. "Maybe that has something to do with it."

I looked down as his words processed. "Does...does that mean we wouldn't have been together if not for the Domain? What if I would never have been attracted to you without it? A-and you wouldn't have cared about me? Is this all fake?"

"It's not fake." He lifted my chin up, his eyes intense and loving. "It was never fake. Whatever the Domain has to do with it."

I could feel how much he meant it. I could feel it _all_...so much more than I could ever feel anything. His emotions were as strong as my own, in my heart.

It was intense, like being in a crowded room, but much more pleasant. Comforting, almost. I could feel him, a steady and welcome presence in my mind.

My hand ran down the back of his head, feeling his neural lace, and along his jawline.

I just gazed up at John, taking him in. Basking in him. My chest swelled with the emotions I felt for him, and I could feel a similar sensation in him.

"I love you," I breathed. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." He leaned into my hand as it ran back up the side of his head.

"Ms. Tawny Clark," a voice came through my room's intercom.

It was vaguely condescending, though that was no surprise. Del Rio seemed to be a very condescending man.

I looked up. "Yes?"

"Get to the bridge. Where is the Master Chief?" He sounded pissed.

From what I'd heard in the brief time knowing him, he always sounded pissed.

I looked up at John with wide eyes. "I'll...find him."

"Do so. And get up here. Quickly."

The intercom crackled as he stopped talking to us.

My free hand picked up my helmet. "Maybe we should go to the bridge."

"Let's go." He stood and offered me his hand.

As I stood up my eyes ran over the gash on the left breast plate of John's armor. 343 Guilty Spark had done that, right after he'd mortally wounded Avery Johnson.

If John hadn't had his armor…the gash was an inch deep at the deepest point. I could see where the armor had melted and reformed.

John could have died.

There were so many moments where he could have died. I'm sure there were several I hadn't been around for.

"The Captain didn't sound very happy," I noted as we moved to the doorway.

"Why would he?" John slid his helmet on. I heard a hiss as it pressurized. "We're about to go to war."

His words set an unpleasant pit in my stomach.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! I like this chapter; they needed a break from almost dying all the time, but the plot is still advancing. I've been planning for John and Tawny to have a bond for a while now, and I figured this was a good place to put it in :)**

**I'm taking down the original Chipped today, just so you know, and relabeling the rewrite.**

**And as always, I love you guys sm! :)**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty Three**

I felt the ship lift off of the ground as John and I rode a shuttle to the bridge.

I guess it was repaired enough to move from its crash site in the jungle.

I had my helmet off. Someone - I suspected John - had cleaned my face off while I was asleep. Ridding me of the dirt and tear stains.

There was still a massive bruise on my jaw, but I didn't particularly care. It wasn't too sore.

I'd tightened up the joint in my right ankle, made the armor less willing to move. It would do for a makeshift brace until I could get out of my armor and get a real brace on it.

My fingers came up, touching the yellow bruise on my right jawline. The skin was definitely tender. It hurt to chew, but I was so hungry I tuned it out.

Besides, we had bigger problems now.

We were at the bridge. The doors slid open, and John stepped out. I grabbed my helmet, holding it to my chest with one arm, and followed him. I was still munching on the apple.

"What I want to know, people, is; where the _hell_ did those things come from?!" Captain Del Rio sounded really pissed.

He seemed to be talking to more than one person, but only Commander Lasky was by the holotable with him. You couldn't have paid me to be in his position at that moment.

Of course, we were about to be in it just as deep as he was.

There was a scan of a Promethean knight up on the table, slowly spinning so that it could be properly assessed without one having to move. It was standing still, in a neutral pose.

"They were made to protect the Forerunners," I piped up from behind Lasky through a mouthful of apple.

Lasky turned at my voice. Gratefulness washed off of him as John and I ascended the stairs to stand beside him.

The Captain was on the other side of the holotable. His emotions were less positive than Lasky's by quite a margin. "We've never seen this type of offensive reaction from _any_ of the other Installations."

"'Other Installations'?" John was to my left, at the end of the holotable.

The Commander was in front of him, slightly to the left, with his back to the main portion of the bridge.

The Captain stalked to the other end of the holotable, directly opposite us. "Mr. Lasky."

Lasky ignored the slight insult that the Captain had just issued - he was no "mister", he was a Commander - and pulled up a hologram of a Halo.

"The _Song_'s mission has been to locate the remaining Halo rings," he explained, "and establish permanent bases to study them for decommission."

He changed the hologram to a scientific base on an asteroid, orbiting a Halo.

"We've got locations up and running around Installations five and three," he paused, glancing around the table, "but...lately they've run into some setbacks."

"What kind of setbacks?" I looked from the hologram to the Commander.

The Captain took the question. "A science team got zapped excavating a Forerunner artifact. This sensor data is all that was left."

He pulled up an image; Forerunner glyphs.

"You know what it means?" He looked down at me with his eyebrows raised in a challenge.

He was scared.

_He_ was in charge of every single human on this planet. Whatever happened, it would be on his shoulders.

He was still being an asshole, though.

I focused on the symbols. "I...It says- it's the symbol for the Didact-"

"Our geeks managed to pull some coordinates." Del Rio looked up at John as if I hadn't said a word. "I'll give you three guesses where it led."

"Sir," NOBLE Team's leader walked up and handed Del Rio a datapad, "Gypsy Company is prepped and ready to roll, on your orders."

"Thank you, A259." Del Rio looked over the datapad. "Mr. Lasky, you take point. I want boots on the ground in sixty."

John looked down at Del Rio; I could feel his incredulous disapproval. "Captain?"

Del Rio got a glint in his eyes when he heard the borderline-insubordinate tone in John's voice.

He stalked closer. "This is a first contact scenario, Master Chief. Priority is to free the _Song of the East_ from Requiem's gravity well and file a threat assessment back at Fleetcom."

"What?" I exclaimed.

I glanced up at John to make sure I'd heard the Captain right.

"We can't _leave_. If Ur-Didact gets out, he could...He'd…" I gestured helplessly.

John saved me. "Sir, the _Song_ drove the Didact back. He's vulnerable."

Del Rio's fear spiked. "_He_ isn't the only one."

He walked around to the side of the table to our right, adopting a criticising tone.

"You know, I'd think _you_ \- of all people - would appreciate the benefit of living to fight another day."

_What_ did he just say to John?

He walked away. Just like that. The _asshole_.

John could feel the righteous fury burning in my chest; he felt similarly. But he pushed his own anger aside and...sent me an emotion?

He pushed the feeling of calm acceptance towards me.

It had taken me years to learn how to do that.

My lip pouted in rage. He pushed more insistently.

I glanced up at him and accepted the peace. I could feel the anger bleed out of my body.

"You heard the Captain." Lasky looked at us with a vague air of regret. "Let's load up."

**oOOOo**

It hadn't taken long for John to gear up. We were in a Pelican. We were going down with a group of marines to do...something.

John and I hadn't exactly been briefed.

A comm came through...it was Del Rio. "_Song of the East_ to Gypsy Company."

He appeared as a hologram in the middle of the dropship.

"The air corridor to the gravity well is blocked by a network of particle cannons," he began, looking around the blood tray. "The _Song_'s shields are still down. Open the lane for us to move up and provide air support."

His plan was still to escape the planet. But the ship was being held down by the gravity well. So he was sending us to take it down.

"Captain," John was standing on the other side of his hologram from me, "what's Force Recon's assessment of the terrain?"

The Captain blinked a few times, as if gathering his thoughts after a monumentally foolish question. From so far away I couldn't feel his emotions, but he made no attempt to hide the physical cues.

Or the verbal ones. His voice was sharp and slow, like speaking to a dumb person. "I _know_ you've been off the field for awhile, Master Chief, but _this_ is a blowthrough op. Sending in recon would just slow us down," he half-yelled.

I bristled on John's behalf.

The Captain didn't seem to see me. He pulled up another hologram in front of him, what looked like a Forerunner weapon.

"Telemetry indicates that the particle cannons are being controlled from a command post Southwest of our position. _Roll_ on that target and neutralize those guns. We'll meet on the other side," he looked around at the soldiers, "and take the gravity well."

So that was the extent of our mission; clear the way for the ship to get through. To hell with anything to do with neutralizing the Didact.

The Captain looked up at John in a challenging manner. "_Song of the East_ out."

Then he was gone.

I felt my lip curl. "Where does he get off? We don't even know what we're flying in to now!"

John's hand was on my shoulder. "Tawny."

"I'm sorry." I looked down at the dark blue helmet in my hands. "But if he doesn't give us intel we could _die_. All of us."

I looked at the Pelican full of marines. Most of them were blatantly eavesdropping, not that it could be helped in the relatively tight quarters.

"I mean...what are we going to do?" I whispered.

John pulled my helmet out of my hands and sealed it over my head. "We'll make it work."

The ramp lowered behind us, exposing us to the dry, dusty air of the canyon. John looked down as we landed, the engines stirring up even more red dust. I was grateful for my helmet.

We were the first two out of the Pelican, simply because we were closest to the ramp.

There was a stone archway ahead of us, leading into a natural tunnel through the canyon. These canyons weren't like the ones in the core of the planet, though. Dryer. Dustier. More sunlit - even if it was fake sunlight.

"Chief, Commander Carter A259. Commander Lasky and I are waiting for you on the Mammoth."

"Affirmative, Commander," John answered smoothly.

I was struck once more at how much the Commander sounded like a _child_.

He _was_ a child!

He was only sixteen years old, dammit! No sixteen year old should have to be exposed to war, let alone the vicious training he'd doubtlessly been through from childhood.

John could feel my turmoil.

He brushed against me with feelings of resignation; the resignation he'd adopted years before I'd ever even seen combat. Back when _he_ was too young to see combat.

He had anyways, of course, even if it was mere simulations.

His whole life...raised to die.

I pushed the resignation away, apologetically. I spoke into his mind, which was easier now than it had been, and said, "_I can't accept any of this, John. It's wrong."_

He conceded, if only because he didn't have the time to push his point, and led the way through the tunnel.

When we emerged, we found a massive wheeled beast - probably a hundred feet high and several hundred long - before us. The tires were three times as tall as John, each tread looked thick enough to crush someone effortlessly.

There was a ramp at the rear, right next to us.

John walked up just as a comm came through from a Pelican. "Papa Foxtrot Seven Six Six to Commander Lasky, we're finally in the air."

I followed John up a series of stairs. It led to the roof of the Mammoth. On the very edge of the back was Commander Lasky, standing alone and forlorn.

He didn't turn, but he acknowledged us. "Chief, Clark. Unfortunately for us, we've got to manually bring down a couple of the particle cannons before we can get to the command post."

I knew I could probably teleport to the command post and do whatever needed to be done, but I held back. I didn't want the _Song_ to leave Requiem; I was still hoping Del Rio would change his mind.

In the meantime, far be it from me to help him leave faster. Call it selfish, it's probably true...but I didn't want to let the Didact escape.

Facing him terrified me, but it was inevitable. It would happen if he escaped Requiem, but a lot more people would get hurt in the process. Best to cut it off here and now, right?

Another comm came through, with a little video feed of the Captain in the corner of my HUD. "Gypsy Company, this is Del Rio. The board is green. Let's shut down that gravity well so we can go home."

And bring Ur-Didact with us.

My lip curled again...we _couldn't_ let the Didact leave Requiem. It couldn't happen!

"Good hunting. _Song of the East_ out."

Everything shook as the Mammoth started walking. John moved to one of the turrets near the front of the tank. I stood next to him as he loaded up, gazing down at the scorched sand beneath us.

It was a long way down.

"You should rest until we're needed," John said.

I looked up at him. "Okay."

My ankle was killing me. And I wasn't obstinate all the time, despite how I'd been acting recently.

Much like Del Rio, I was _scared_. I just tried not to take it out on anyone.

There were simply some things I wasn't willing to budge on; John's safety was absolutely one of them.

Every single time he told me to shirk his own safety to secure my own...that was when we clashed.

I sat down on the edge of the Mammoth, my feet going through one of the short guard rails. It pressed against the top of my thighs, securing me in.

My eyes fell to the sand as it passed below us.

Back on Eridanus II - before I got kidnapped, and before it got glassed - I loved to climb things. Airplanes, spaceships, trees, buildings. It didn't matter. Height was familiar. Exhilarating. And yet, somehow, comfortable.

I kicked my left leg in the open air, listening to my heal _clank_ against the side of the Mammoth. "How are we supposed to take the cannons offline?"

John nodded ahead of us; there were three Pelicans. "One of those has a target designator; the Mammoth can hit them with the MAC gun."

"Oh." I laid back on the walkway, spreading my arms out in a T. "That's a good plan. The Captain didn't come up with it, surely?"

I got the distinct sense that John was amused, though he wouldn't admit it out loud.

"Captain Del Rio, targeting Pelicans are in position near the particle cannons, waiting for the Mammoth's Mini-MAC to take them out," Commander Carter said.

He sounded so young. I couldn't fathom what he'd been through. I couldn't fathom what any of the SPARTANs had been through, and I was bonded to one.

The bond still made me giddy. That was _John_ that I could feel.

Carter's voice took on a commanding air. "Seven Six Six bring it down; you're in the kill zone."

The pilot disregarded him. "Almost got target lock...just a little more…"

"You're inside the kill zone! I said _fall back_, Pelican!" Carter sounded tense; anyone could see the cannon gearing up to shoot.

A massive beam of orange light burst forth, heating up the air even around us, and incinerating two of the Pelicans.

Two down, one still in the air. Barely.

Its wing was smoking, and its altitude dropped dramatically.

I shoved myself upright and stared at where the Pelican had been. "Oh, my god."

Commander Lasky's tense voice came over the comms, "_Song of the East_! Pelican down!"

"Get to the crash site and retrieve that target designator, Gypsy," Del Rio ordered. "You've got no chance of clearing those guns without it."

He hadn't even said anything particularly rude, but Del Rio's tone irked me. He was one of the most unpleasant people I'd _ever_ dealt with in my entire life.

I didn't care how scared he was; I could guarantee I was more scared. Terrified. Quaking in my scaled-down armor at the thought of facing Ur-Didact again, now that he knew anything - everything - about me.

But I didn't back down, because I wasn't a fucking _coward_.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Here's a second chapter, because last chapter was genuinely and inexcusably short. I have no explanation beyond 'it be like that sometimes'.**

**I love you! :)**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty Four**

We were speeding for the third Pelican's crash site so that we could retrieve their target designator.

It was me, John, and a SPARTAN III named Jun, who was barely thirteen. He was sitting beside me, his sniper rifle out.

And, _damn_, he was a good sniper.

John was on the machine gun, tearing through Sangheili and Ghosts like there was no tomorrow. Jun was sniping from the passenger seat, which was something even I knew was hard to do.

And I was driving around the small stone buttes, weaving towards the wrecked Pelican and trying to avoid the plasma fire from all directions.

I pulled up by the Pelican, which was on a small cliff overlooking a dirty pond, and shoved the hog into first. Ready to move whenever.

Even though pushing the pedals hurt my ankle like I couldn't _believe_.

John leapt down from the machine gun and started combing through the wreckage. He made no attempt to hide his fear for me; I'd parked us with my side of the hog closer to the encroaching Covies.

I wasn't about to let them get cheap shots at the _child_.

But, in true SPARTAN nature, Jun wasn't about to let the combat pass him by. He'd pushed himself to his feet and was shooting over my head at any aliens that came too close.

"Target designator secure," John announced barely a minute after he'd gone to retrieve it.

That was fast.

Commander Lasky came over the comm. "Alright, Chief, Mini-MAC's at your disposal. Take out that particle cannon."

John walked back over to us and climbed onto the perch. He lifted the designator as soon as he could see the massive particle cannon to our left. Took aim. Lased the target.

"Target acquired!" Lasky announced.

Everything jolted as the Mammoth's Mini-MAC fired. It reduced the immense cannon to scrap metal that showered down on the bottom of the canyon.

I watched the pieces fall, a bit blown away at the sheer power of the Mammoth for a moment.

"Target suppressed. Nicely done, Chief." Commander Lasky sounded like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Of course, that wasn't the only cannon we had to destroy. But it was a start.

I started driving back towards the Mammoth, which was rolling down the path.

I opened a private comm between John and me. "I'm glad you're safe."

"I told you I'd be okay."

"Yeah, you did." I hummed. "Maybe I should listen to you more often."

I could hear the teasing note in his voice. "That'll be the day."

**The Mammoth stopped in a small river and lowered the front and rear ramps, creating a bridge of sorts for us. I drove through it and kept going along the cliff.**

As the Mammoth moved further along the cliffside path Lasky commed the ship. "Lasky to _Song of the East_, first contact cleared but no joy on additional targets. Gypsy moving on to secondary battle position but requesting evac for casualties."

The pilot and remaining crew from the Pelican needed medical attention, as well as a few soldiers who'd been shot by the Covies on the ground. It was a small number, but the UNSC didn't leave people behind.

Someone from the _Song_ answered, "I'm on it, Commander. _Song of the East_ out."

Our warthog was driving alongside the Mammoth, between the massive vehicle and the sheer sandstone cliff to our right.

I cocked my head as we rounded a bend. "Hey, John, I feel something up there."

"What is it?" I could feel his tense curiosity.

"It's...it's a shield. Keeping us from the rest of the canyon."

"Where?"

I nodded ahead. "Right around the corner."

He moved the machine gun up and asked, "Any contacts?"

"Quite a few." I reached out ahead of us. "They're in that valley, off to the left. I-I can't say how many."

I couldn't get the exact number because there were too many to count quickly.

The energy shield came into view, rippling and blue. There was no way we'd be able to blow through it, and it blocked the entire canyon from wall to wall.

I could hear the turrets all over the Mammoth working to take the Covies down, but they would have no effect on the shield.

John came to the same conclusion as I did, albeit more regretfully.

I opened a comm. "Commander Lasky, I can take the shield down."

There was a pause.

"Remotely?" Lasky asked.

I nodded. "Remotely."

"Alright, but make it fast." His voice wasn't snappy, just...tired.

I pulled the warthog to a halt behind a boulder that would hopefully keep us sheltered from the vengeful Covies firing on us.

Jun regarded me with a bit of concern; if this didn't work, I'd just made us sitting ducks for nothing.

I closed my eyes. "_John, t__his is going to hurt. I'd get as far away from my head as you can."_

He didn't like the sound of that.

I brushed against him, letting him feel my emotions. I could handle it; I was somewhat used to it. More than he was, anyway.

He didn't push into my mind any more, but he didn't pull away either.

"_Stubborn. Please?"_

He didn't budge.

"Okay," I sighed aloud. "I warned you."

That statement puzzled Jun, who hadn't been privy to the beginning of the conversation.

My mind reached out, finding the shield's generator. This one was set up differently to the shield on Arcadia, all those years ago. Funny; to me it felt like months.

Focus.

Find the frequency.

Got it. Now...find the most horrible, clashing frequency.

Emit it. Make it _loud_.

The frequency, which was in stark contrast to the frequency of the shield, pulsed from my body. Targeting the three shield generators.

Three, instead of one. Completely unlike Arcadia.

There was the pain, though, that was consistent. Like screws on metal, but as a physical sensation. It felt like it was trying to flay my mind.

I threw my head back, gritting my teeth against the pain. A tight groan squeezed out from between my teeth.

I could feel John; he was sharing the pain with me. So stubborn. I didn't _want_ him to hurt.

He didn't want me to hurt.

It didn't matter who was hurting. This had to get done.

I didn't back down, even as I could feel my strength failing. It wasn't my strength itself; it was the pain making me falter. I would _not_ let that happen.

The shield flickered once. I pushed forward, using John's determination to fuel my own. Forced the horrid frequency to continue blasting against the shield.

It cut out, as if it had never been there at all.

I cut my own frequency off, laughing breathlessly. "It's down. Thank god."

"Shield's down, Commander," John reported.

"Good job," Lasky responded. "Weapons free, people, these guys aren't going to take too kindly to us."

I shoved the hog into first gear. "On that note, let's go get some Covies."

We roared down into the valley. There were two parts, the lower part was where we were.

But that meant that, even as we took fire from a Ghost a scarce thirty feet away, we also had to dodge the massive plasma rounds of a Wraith in the higher valley.

But I was the designated driver. I needed to focus on dodging plasma and keeping us upright, not on taking anyone down. That was up to John, on the machine gun, and Jun with the sniper rifle.

The Mammoth lowered its ramps. Commander Lasky came over the comms, "We're moving on. Whenever you're ready to proceed, Chief."

John thought for a moment. Like me, he didn't want the _Song_ to leave Requiem. And taking down the particle cannons would let them do just that.

But unlike me, he was a soldier with orders.

So he found a compromise and said, "Take down the Wraith. Then we'll regroup."

I nodded and shoved the hog into third gear. "Got it."

"Ready grenades," he instructed Jun.

Jun pulled a grenade off of his belt. "Got it, sir."

He had a thick Jewish accent and a childish tone to his voice. It was scratchier than a true adult's, still not mature. It made my heart ache for him.

But he was also more than a foot taller than me, and had shot down more Covies in the past few minutes than I could count.

A flaming ball of plasma as big as the warthog slammed into the ground next to us. It sent us all flying as the warthog flipped through the air.

I caught myself mere feet from the ground, turned, and threw my arms out.

My body and mind shook under the weight of two SPARTANs and a wrecked warthog, but my strength held. Nothing and no one hit the ground.

I lowered John and Jun to the ground and let the warthog drop. We were right beside a natural sandstone ramp that led up to the second valley.

And a Wraith was storming towards us on that very ramp.

John turned to Jun, and nodded to me. "Cover her."

"Excuse me?!" I cried. "What are you _doing_?"

John didn't respond. But, based on what I could feel through the bond, he was about to do something reckless and terrifying.

You know, I really hated being right.

But, as Jun pulled me behind a Covenant barrier, I watched John sprint towards the Wraith.

He was scared, but he'd set the fear aside. Turned the fizzy edges of it into excitement and adrenaline.

I gasped when he jumped up on top of the Wraith. The massive plasma turret was pointed right at him. As soon as it recharged they would-

John pulled a grenade off of his belt and shoved it into the nose of the turret.

"Cover!" he cried.

Then he shoved himself off of the Wraith, rolling to his feet, and bolted towards us. He ran so fast he was nothing but a green blur.

He threw himself behind the barrier and wrapped himself around me. We were now on the ground, facing away from the Wraith. John had one arm over his head, and the other over mine.

Jun had taken a similar position, feet towards the Wraith with his hands braced over his head.

The Wraith exploded outward in a firework of molten metal and white fire. I could hear wreckage slamming into the barrier at our feets, and into the stony wall at our heads.

A chunk of the Wraith bored into the ground beside us, flinging up melted metal and drawing a massive gash in the stone.

When everything quieted down John pushed himself up so that he could survey the situation. Jun was already on his knees, looking around.

I sat up and turned around. I didn't stand - I decided to give my ankle a bit of a rest - but I could see plenty from where I was.

Streaks of white fire were running along the ground. Molten metal was everywhere; there was a half-liquid chunk less than five feet to my right.

And most of the Covies were dead or injured.

My ankle rolled when I finally tried to push myself up. I sucked in a sharp breath and fell back to my knees.

Then I glared up at John. "You're fucking crazy."

He offered me a hand and pulled me to my feet. "Let's get back on the Mammoth."

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! This week felt really long for some reason, idk why :\**

**I love you all!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty Five**

We took down a second particle cannon from the top of the Mammoth. It was simple, once it was in range. The target designator really was a game changer.

So much so, that John and I hadn't even left the Mammoth since destroying that Wraith. I was even able to sit down, and let my ankle rest a bit.

But we had plenty of opposition on our way.

A massive Covenant company had attacked us with Banshees, Ghosts, Wraiths, Phantoms, a Lich, and ground troops.

All of them were manageable targets, mostly, except for the Lich.

So John, being impulsive and somewhat of an adrenaline junky, had boarded the Lich and destroyed it from the inside out.

I could still feel my heart palpitating in fear. He could have _died_. He _almost_ died.

As soon as he landed on the Mammoth - having _jumped_ from the exploding Lich - I pushed myself up and grabbed his arm. "Are you okay?!"

He put a hand on my head. "I'm alright."

"Are you sure?" I looked him over, but I couldn't discern much through his armor.

"I'm sure." He opened his mind to me; I could _feel_ how uninjured he was.

I wrapped my arms around him, letting my helmet fall onto his chest. My voice was breathy. "Thank god."

The memory of him throwing himself out of the Lich was still fresh. It had looked, for a moment, as if he was another corpse. Blown away by the explosion at his back.

But no, he was no corpse.

At least, not for now. No one, not even a SPARTAN, was invincible. When would his time come?

It was almost like he was trying to speed it along.

John held me by my shoulders, pushing me away from his body to look down at me. Then he tilted my helmet up. "I'm not going anywhere."

My eyes looked over him. I couldn't see him, just his armor, but I could feel him. His trauma, his determination. His sorrow and his gritty pride. His bleak outlook on this entire situation.

But he wasn't lying. He fully intended to stay alive, with me, no matter what it took.

In a lifetime of serving humanity, this was his one selfish desire.

He deserved it. If anyone had earned a little selfish indulgence, it was him.

"Thanks, Chief. It was getting a bit dicey there for a minute." Commander Lasky was audibly sighing in relief at the destruction of the Lich.

Then he refocused.

"All hands, form up on us."

Del Rio dropped in. "Lasky, this is _Song of the East_. Status."

"Mammoth's in pretty bad shape, sir," Lasky reported. "She'll make it to the objective, as long as nobody starts throwing rocks at us."

"Not a chance we can take. I'm sending teams out to pull some of their fire off of you so you can make it to the gravity well."

Lasky sounded a little relieved. "Roger that, sir."

The Mammoth halted as the road narrowed. It became bumpier, too.

Lasky called all the remaining ground troops to return to the Mammoth on threat of getting left behind. And they really would; the path ahead was too rock-strewn to navigate in a coordinated manner.

The Mammoth resumed its pace along the thin pathway. Hopefully everyone had made it aboard.

I stood next to John on the front of the upper deck, my right hand laced through his left, and watched the terrain unfold before us. There was still plenty of sand, but now there were a lot more red rocky formations.

They rose up from the ground like titanous fingers, forcing us to move around them.

Patchy greenery lined the path. They were in pale, faded greens. They looked dehydrated.

We rounded another bend.

"One-one-seven, Lasky."

John straightened up, almost imperceptibly. "Go, Commander."

"We've got significant blockage up ahead. Think this is about it for the Mammoth. The command post for the particle cannons is through the trench."

I looked out, with John, over the trench. There was no way the Mammoth was traversing it.

John looked down at me. He wanted to go alone.

But he knew that I would insist on tagging along. He could feel it. I made no attempt to hide it; I wasn't letting him go alone.

He wrapped his left arm around my shoulder. "Sir, four-one-twenty-three and I can move faster alone."

"See you two back on the _Song_, then. Lasky out."

I looked up at John. "Thank you. For letting me tag along."

He didn't say anything, but I knew why he'd become more willing to let me come with him. He could feel how scared I was for him.

Before the bond, he'd thought I was being dramatic. He couldn't imagine someone caring that much for him.

That...broke my heart.

John drew his hand back, along the back of my shoulders and down my right arm. Wrapped his massive hand around mine. Then, together, we lifted off of the deck.

There were three Kig-Yar and a Promethean knight in the ravine ahead.

I looked over at John as we flew. "_I can take the knight."_

"_I was about to take the Jackals."_

I grinned; we were definitely in tune.

John wasn't scared or surprised when I teleported away from him.

I reappeared a hundred feet away, behind the Promethean knight, atop a butte.

I shot my hand out and wrapped it in waves of ultrasound. The waves contracted with my fist, crushing the knight in on itself. The pressure destroyed its core.

As soon as I let go, a massive datapurge destroyed the remains.

I looked down and saw John pull out his energy sword. It sliced through one Kig-Yar. He took the round shield from the corpse and held it up between himself and the other two snipers.

The sword was back on his thigh. He pulled the rifle off of his back and shot it with one hand, taking out one of the Kig Yar.

There was only one left.

I could feel John; he was calm. Focused. He could handle this.

I took this opportunity to sit down. My ankle was hurting, even with the stiffened armor.

My legs hung off the side of the butte. A hundred feet below me, the unforgiving ground.

John ran up the boulder housing the final Kig-Yar. He rammed him with the scavenged energy shield and shot him as he fell. Swift and utterly brutal.

I watched him drop back down to the ground. Then I teleported down next to him, landing heavily on my ankle.

John felt the pain lance up my leg. But he also knew I wouldn't stop until my ankle literally couldn't hold my weight. Even then I might keep going, if at all possible.

He wanted to send me back to the Mammoth.

"_Don't be a hypocrite; you'd do the same in my place."_

He dropped his hand onto my head, huffing in annoyance and amusement. "Who's stubborn?"

"Both of us." I grinned. "It's why we get along so well."

His hand ran down the side of my helmet as if he was caressing my face. Then he turned to face the Forerunner building before us. "We should move."

I followed his gaze. "Yeah, we should."

He walked ahead of me, his rifle moving around to make sure there were no hidden threats.

I was reaching out. "There are seventeen Unggoy up there."

He pointed with his rifle. "Take the right."

I nodded.

The Unggoy were close.

"_Ready…"_ John was speaking in my mind so they wouldn't hear us.

I lifted off of the ground by an inch.

"_Now."_ He launched himself forward, avoiding the shocked and meager plasma fire sent his way.

I lifted up even higher, five feet from the ground, and held my hand out. A pulse wave sent the Unggoy to my right tumbling back.

John was definitely handling his side well. I got an impression - I didn't see it, but I felt it in a way - of him slamming the butt of his rifle into an Unggoy's neck. No ammo, instant kill.

I focused back on my own Unggoy. John's focus was the predominant feeling through the bond; it blocked out his fear. It blocked out _my_ fear. I wasn't about to fight that.

I landed, ignoring the twinge of my ankle, and threw my hands out. The shockwave blasted the Unggoy into the walls, hard enough to crush their bones. Every single one died on impact.

It was unpleasant and cutthroat. And very, very gory.

But necessary.

That's what I told myself.

John had finished off his side. He was waiting for me beside a ramp.

I walked up. "John, there are two knights up there."

"Can you take one?"

I nodded.

"Let's go." He led the way up the ramp.

The first Promethean was at the top of the ramp.

It had been waiting for us.

There was a second knight behind it, practically salivating as it looked at us. There was tangible bloodlust radiating from both of them.

John slammed into the first knight's neck with the butt of his rifle. It didn't do much other than piss the knight off.

And distract it. It also did that.

Which had been John's goal, of course.

Now I could make my move. I wrapped the Promethean in ultrasound and slammed it back into its comrade. They collapsed into an indiscernible mess of limbs and hardlight.

John was quick to take advantage of that. He fired down on them, running along the edge of the building.

I followed, keeping an eye on them. I wanted to preserve my energy. If John could take them down with his rifle, far be it from me to use needless energy.

He took one down, anyway.

The second Promethean stood, shaking off the glowing orange particles of its brother's datapurge, and focused all of its laser-like fury on us.

I held up a hand, wrapping it in a cocoon of ultrasound. John surged forward and punched into the Promethean's chest. His fist broke through layers of metal and destroyed the knight's core.

I looked up at John as he walked towards me. "You okay?"

He nodded.

"Good. Okay, the entrance is right there." I pointed to my left - his right - at the large doorway.

"Let's move."

I limped up, placing the palm of my hand against the door. "I can open it. Just let me…"

The door slid open. It revealed a large slanted walkway leading to another door.

"Sierra one-one-seven to _Song of the East_. We're entering the structure."

There was a response from Del Rio, but not one we could understand. His voice was completely garbled.

It sounded like hellish gibberish, which was somewhat of a step up from his normal voice.

But it meant we weren't able to talk to the ship if we needed help.

Whatever happened in here, we were alone. Just like we'd been yesterday, when we woke up in orbit above Requiem naked and confused.

"Okay...th-the coordinates got through, even if we couldn't understand a word he said." I looked up at John. "That's kind of a win-win."

"Play nice." His voice was full of the amusement I felt bouncing through the bond.

"Him first." I crossed my arms. "A-anyway, we should probably get going. The sooner we get back, the sooner we can convince him to...to stay, and fight the Didact."

Both of us doubted that would happen.

I closed my eyes, reaching out into the building. "There should be an elevator to our left."

A Sentinel buzzed somewhere above us. There were a few of them in the towering hallway. Hopefully they wouldn't attack us.

Why would they? They didn't seem to be under the Didact's control.

But, as I was beginning to learn, you never could tell with Forerunner AI. One moment they're your best friend and the next they're trying to murder you because you won't commit genocide on their schedule.

343 Guilty Spark and I had a _bit_ of a strained relationship, to put it lightly.

"Focus." John put a hand on my shoulder. "The elevator. Can you control it?"

I walked in my uneven gate to the elevator door and had it slide open. "I think so."

He stepped in. I followed, looking up at the impossibly tall shaft. Down, below the mostly-hardlight floor, was an equally immense drop down.

I took a breath to steady myself. Tried, desperately, to shed my own fear without John's help.

We could both feel something shifting, awakening, down there.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Here's a second chapter, since last one was so short. Idk why they're all so short; I'm sorry! :(**

**Anywho I love you guys! :)**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty Six**

I _could_ control the elevator. Fairly easily.

There was a presence below us, I could feel.

No, not...below us. _Through_ something below us. Something very, very familiar to me, and to John.

Some_one_.

"John?" I grabbed his hand.

"I feel it."

"The Domain isn't strong enough to tell us what it- what it is."

John was contemplative, studying the feeling from various angles in his mind. "Whatever it is, it isn't a threat."

"It's also right by the controls for the cannons," I pointed out.

It felt important. Very important. Crucial to the coming conflict.

"We'll get the cannons offline first." John was ever focused. "Then we'll find out what it is."

"Okay."

The elevator opened into another long, tall, ornately and yet functionally decorated hallway.

What was it with the hallways? Could no two rooms be within fifty feet of one another?

I wouldn't care so much if my ankle didn't hurt. But it felt like someone was digging into the outside of my ankle with an icepick. I couldn't have walked without a limp if I tried.

I'd tried.

There was a massive room. Huge power generators lined a narrow walkway, with a console in the very center.

Once again, walk precariously or die. The Forerunners must have secretly been adrenaline junkies.

John walked in front of me towards the console. "These are the coordinates."

I nodded. "And that console is what I need to take the particle cannons down."

We walked, with a distinct release in tension, onto a wider platform.

I moved up to the console and pulled up a hologram. A map of the planet, with the particle cannons visible.

"Okay...I just need to shut them down. And...the system is automated. Great."

"Can you do it?" John asked.

"I-I think so." I chewed on my lip. "I can try."

I pressed a few buttons experimentally. Nothing happened. I tried another sequence with the same results.

"I can't do it from here. Give me- I just need a minute."

I sent my mind into the console. It was _much_ easier to maneuver from there. It was still a bit difficult, but I managed to force the cannons offline.

Well, I actually forced them to fire on each other so that they couldn't be brought _back_ online by the Didact.

My mind tumbled back into my body. "Okay, _Song_, the cannons should be down."

There was no response. They hadn't even received my comm. Something - some_one_ \- was interfering with the signal.

The last time that had happened...we'd released the Didact.

The presence that John and I had felt was swelling. Beckoning. Almost...not the Domain. Similar, yes, but not quite. Pleasant. This wasn't Ur-Didact.

I could pinpoint it.

"John, I know where it is!"

He nodded. "Lead the way."

I turned. There, to the right, was a thin walkway of hardlight. It would take us to where we needed to go.

John could feel it, too.

So we walked across the slightly-too-thin-for-comfort lightbridge.

There was a large room before us. A doorway to our left, then one straight ahead.

I pointed. "In there, down the ramp."

John led the way from there, his rifle up and ready. When the door slid open it revealed a large room with a hardlight floor. A huge blue beam was in the center.

"Wow." My voice was breathy with wonder.

I lifted up into the air, flying past John and looking at the beam.

"This is it," I whispered.

When John was within reach of the beam his hand came out, brushing against it. I felt an urge overtake him.

He stepped inside the blue light, and I felt his mind immediately leave his body.

No way.

I flew into the beam just above his now floating and unconscious form, wondering where it would take me.

I reappeared, after an intense flash of white, on a balcony. Before me was a pair of floating metal brackets. There was something inside them, but it was too bright to see what it was.

I reached out.

It was some_one_ we knew.

But, at the same time, we'd never met this being.

"John…" I reached up to grab his hand.

He wrapped his right hand around mine and looked up at the descending figure. "Who are you?"

"I am what remains of the Forerunner once known as the Librarian," the silhouette said in a regal voice.

I felt my jaw drop in shock. "First-Light? How?"

"So you have met me before."

She floated down, into sight. Right in front of the edge of the balcony. Just in front of us; I could have reached out and touched her.

"I am but an imprint," she explained. "A construct with her memories. They were retained to assist Humanity on their path to the Mantle."

Her eyes were kind, pained, and wise as she looked down at both of us.

"Sadly, that plan is now at risk."

I looked up at John. So this imprint knew about Ur-Didact's awakening.

"The Didact is leaving Requiem. Soon," she stressed. "You must not allow it."

"We're trying." I pulled my helmet off so I could meet her eyes. "I-I promise."

She held her hand out, behind John and I.

We both turned to see a blue hologram displaying a massive Forerunner device.

Her voice was grave. "He seeks this. The Composer. A device which will allow him to finally contain the greatest enemy ever faced by the Forerunners."

Both John and I turned to look at her, already knowing who she meant.

Still, she looked down at us with no small degree of fondness. "You."

She meant humanity as a whole, but she also meant John and I specifically. We, as the Revivers, could restore the Mantle and give it to humanity.

The Mantle of Responsibility; held by the protectors of everything and everyone in the galaxy. Passed down from the Forerunners to the humans - Reclaimers.

A militant peace. Perhaps...perhaps it would be best to let the Mantle dissolve.

The Librarian became lost in memories, her voice somewhat soft. "Mankind spread into the stars with an unexpected, desperate violence. Entire systems fell, before the Didact's Warrior-Servants rose to halt the aggression."

Regret. Second-hand guilt at the actions of her husband.

"When the Didact finally exhausted the humans after a millennia, his sentence was severe. We had no way of knowing that the Forerunners were not your only enemy."

She looked up at us with pained eyes.

"Humanity hadn't been expanding. They were _running_." First-Light looked down. "Weakened from our conflict, we were no match for the parasite which pursued you."

She meant the Flood.

"The Forerunners made plans for a final, great journey. The Halo Array. But the Didact refused to yield our Mantle of Responsibility. He would save all life in the galaxy...at a cost."

She looked up at us once more with her serious blue eyes.

"In the Forerunners' quest for transcendence, the Composer had been intended to bridge the organic and digital realms. It would have made us immortal."

Her voice became bitter.

"But its results soured. The stored personalities fragmented, and our attempts to return them into biological states created only abominations."

Anger. Regret, once again. A strong desire to make things right, because they were so, so wrong.

"Such moral concerns faded from the Didact's attention. The Flood only assimilated living tissue. The Composer would provide the Didact his solution...and his revenge."

John looked up at her. I could feel him piecing things together. "The Prometheans...they're human."

"They were only the beginning." The Librarian's face twisted into a grimace of sorts. "He would have encrypted your entire race if we had not removed the Composer from his care, and imprisoned him here."

Still...imprisoning him brought a pang to her heart. Despite everything, he was her husband. Her love. She mourned what could have been.

"Revivers, your genesongs already harmonize with their unique notes. But there is one ability which has not yet been unlocked in either of you."

I felt something, then, invade our haven. Dark, and wrathful. Sickeningly sadistic.

I grabbed John's arm and backed away, as if that would impede the intangible presence. A pitiful whimper fell from my mouth.

The Librarian looked around. "He has found us."

Pillars, with Promethean knights atop, rose up from the pit behind the Librarian. John took aim at them, pushing me behind him with an elbow.

"Even in death, her meddling continues," the Didact growled.

The malicious voice sent palpitations of fear through my heart.

"Revivers," First-Light's voice was desperate as she turned away from the Prometheans, "I must unlock your genesongs completely."

John was still threatening the Prometheans with his rifle.

The Didact's voice was hellish. "Relinquish your contact, essence!"

I screwed my eyes shut, trying to block his presence from my perception. He wasn't touching my mind, but I couldn't stop thinking about when he had.

How utterly weak I had been.

He'd crawled through my mind with languid ease. Forced me to give him memories I held dear, or memories I despised. Made me show him _me_, in an intimate way I would only be truly willing to do with John.

The Didact had done that to me, and he was _here_.

"Your evolutionary journey must be accelerated!" the Librarian insisted.

"Can we defeat the Didact without it?" John's voice was hard.

He could feel my terror. Feel how wronged I had been by the presence descending further and further into our pocket of existence.

First-Light's voice was grave. "No."

"Then do it," John said.

I looked up just in time to see her serious blue eyes. She spoke a single word. "Prepare."

Prepare?

I was back in my real body. In the blue beam of light.

Intense sensations - not quite pain, but close - flooded my body. Arcs of blue-white lightning ran down my body. My muscles were all seizing at once.

This is what happened to John the first time First-Light activated his powers. What happened to me in the core of the shield world all those years ago. It was happening to us again.

I heard a large thud beside me, slightly below, as John landed.

I was lowering to the ground. I landed on my left leg, trying to keep the weight off of my right ankle. I leaned against John's shoulder.

On his knees, he was about the same height as me. Maybe a little shorter, thanks to my armor.

Hey, my helmet was on again.

My breath was a bit labored. "I never...never thought I'd do that again."

John stood. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay. Are-"

Something was in here with us.

"John!"

"Where?" His rifle was up.

I backed away from the Prometheans I could feel all around us. "Everywhere."

"Find us a way out of here." He opened fire on a crawler that was slinking too close for comfort.

A whimper caught in the back of my throat. I took a shaky breath and forced myself to focus. "Okay. We-we're okay."

John wasn't completely, gob-smackedly terrified like I was. I used his relative stability to calm myself.

Just focus on reading the system. There's got to be more than one way out of this room. Come on, everything's going to be fine.

It has to be.

"Okay… There's an elevator in the back of the room!" I called to John. "I can work with it."

He began backing up, still firing on the Prometheans. "Move!"

I broke for the elevator, feeling my ankle about to collapse with every step.

Even if it did, the armor would support my weight. I'd made sure of that. It cost me some range of motion in that ankle, but that didn't seem like an issue at the moment.

I was alone in the elevator. I looked out to see John, still backing up, about twenty feet away.

"John! I'll hold them off!"

We were perfectly synchronized.

He turned and ran just as a pulse shot out of my hand. It encapsulated every Promethean it touched, from the crawlers to the knights and their little buzzing watchers.

Everything was still.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: So sorry this is late! It's been a crazy week, lol! Also I'm in a different time zone, so my alarm to update was a bit late :| Sorry again!**

**I love y'all! :)**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty Seven**

I could feel fifteen or more Prometheans fighting against my hold. They were all completely immobilized where they stood. Some were held in grotesque poses of war; snarls on their faces and tension in their bodies.

One crawler was frozen mid-howl. The bloodlust radiated off of it in a sickeningly intense manner. Its entire existence was to cut and tear and destroy living things.

John skidded to a halt inside the elevator, beside me.

I quickly jumped from controlling the Prometheans to controlling the elevator. The doors hissed shut as blaster fire resumed. None of it hit us.

I set the elevator to take us down. My body was leaning back against the wall, distinct fatigue in my muscles. "That was terrifying."

John knew I meant hearing the Didact in the Librarian's keep, not the Prometheans.

"I won't let him hurt you again." He wrapped his arms around me, holding me close.

I closed my eyes and soaked in the embrace.

I didn't want to say it aloud, but we both knew he may be powerless to stop that from happening. Just as I was powerless to protect him.

We would have to work together to defeat the Didact. More so than we ever had before. This bond between us could save the galaxy from millennia of subjugation.

The elevator stopped. John looked out. "Where are we?"

"There's a portal ahead. I-it can take us to the nearest UNSC forces."

He reached down with his left hand and wrapped it around mine. I gripped his hand tightly, using the physical connection to ground myself.

Aftershocks of dread were still echoing in my mind.

The portal was just ahead, at the end of the hallway atop some stairs. I stepped up, then into it. John was right behind me.

When the white dissipated, we found ourselves in the midst of a firefight. Covenant Ghosts and Wraiths fired on Scorpion tanks and warthogs.

We were within a canyon. The _Song of the East_ was hovering above the battle.

"I'm reading Sierra one-one-seven and Charlie four-one-twenty-three on sensor," one Master Sergeant Jasper announced.

That was my callsign; C-4123. It was Charlie, for Civilian, and the first four letters of my service number, which was CC-412359.

John jerked his head. "Get on the tank."

Sure enough, there was a Scorpion rolling towards us. The driver, a marine, hopped out.

She nodded to us. "Chief."

He climbed in. I settled on the front left tread, my usual seat.

Sergeant Jasper ordered, "Everyone, form up on the Chief!"

"Sierra one-one-seven to _Song of the East_, what's our status?" John immediately set to work, shooting down a row of Ghosts.

Captain Del Rio sounded as grouchy as ever. This time, at least, he had good reason. "We're taking a _beating_ up here!"

John moved the tank forward, blowing through a Wraith. "Does the _Song_ have a shot on the gravity well?"

Now that the particle cannons were down, our focus was on the well keeping the _Song_ locked in the planet.

"Negative." I could hear some fear leaking into the Captain's voice. "We'll never be able to get a target lock with all the air traffic we're seeing."

John said, "We still have the target designator. Can we lock onto the gravity well with that?"

"Do it! TAC-COM, find the Chief coordinates for somewhere within line of sight!"

John shot down another Ghost as we waited for the coordinates.

Sergeant Jasper sounded almost like Johnson. Not quite, but enough to make me miss him. "First line clear, check it off! All eyes on the Chief; he's lead dog!"

We pushed even further into the canyon path. I reached out. There was another energy shield blocking the way through.

I showed John. He wanted to ask me to take it down, but he didn't want me to be in pain.

"_I can do it. Don't worry."_

He was glad he didn't have to ask me to do it. He would have, if I hadn't offered, but he would have felt bad about it.

"_Are you sure?"_ he asked, just in case.

I leaned back against the main body of the tank. "_Yeah, I'm sure. I'll be back in a minute."_

The shield still wasn't visible. It would be soon, it was just around the corner.

I could feel it.

I felt my body dissolve as I teleported to a place near the shield. I was atop the canyon wall, looking down at a Covenant camp. There were three power generators, like last time.

I could see the energy shield, like a giant blue wall. Blocking off the remainder of the canyon. Keeping John from the gravity well.

I laid down on my stomach, peeking over the edge. None of the Covenant soldiers had seen me.

Good.

My eyes closed as I searched for the frequency. Behind me, I could hear the advancing marines. John was leading them in his Scorpion.

I found the frequency.

Now, for the fun part. I emitted an incompatible frequency. The clash brought me physical pain once again, in the form of a severe and sharp headache. Lancing up the back of my skull and down into my neck.

I just had to hold out longer than the shield

But the shield couldn't feel pain.

It didn't matter. I'd hurt worse before. Knowing my luck, I would probably hurt worse again. I just had to hold out a little longer.

The energy shield flickered.

Just...a bit more.

It cut out.

I collapsed, resting the side of my helmet against the sun-baked stone. "Thank god."

"Tawny?" John had opened a private comm.

I teleported to him. Well, as close to him as I could get. There wasn't room for two inside the tank, so I was on the front right tread.

"_I'm okay,"_ I said.

He brushed against me to make sure. I really was, though.

I saw something in the corner of my HUD. "Hey, we've got the coordinates."

They were pointing us to the left, through a boulder-laden valley.

John was focused. "The Scorpion won't get through that."

I looked it over. The valley itself was mostly smooth and sandy, but the entrance was full of rocky spires several feet taller than either of us.

He was right; the tank would never be able to traverse them.

My body phased out. It reformed on the other side of the rocks. I was facing the tank, watching John climb down.

Behind me was a sandy plateau. I turned to face it. The gravity well was tagged on my HUD, it was to the right of the plateau's severe dropoff.

John walked up, putting his hand on my head. "Let's move."

"If we do this," I looked down, feeling distinctly selfish, "they're going to try to leave the planet."

His hand trailed down the side of my helmet. Down my arm. It ended when he wrapped it around my right hand. He couldn't offer words of support, but this was just as good.

"Maybe we can convince Del Rio to stay." My voice was hopeful. "He's scared, but n-not without reason."

John pulled the target designator out with his free hand. "Come on."

I walked beside him down to the flat expanse. Sure enough, far below us, was the gravity well. A huge orange ball of light, surrounded by three spires.

John looked down at it, then up to the ship. "_Song of the East_, we're at the gravity well."

"Then paint that damn target so we can get out of here!"

I flinched at Del Rio's harsh tone, even as if flooded me with anger. Why was he being _such_ a prick?

John held up the designator, locking it onto the gravity well.

Del Rio didn't sound so snarky now. "Target locked! Firing for effect!"

A huge missile crushed into the core of the gravity well. The resulting explosion collapsed the massive spires as a shockwave reverberated. It fell just short of us.

I could only stand in awe as the structure - which was massive, even from a distance - was entirely eradicated.

John turned away from the crumbling structure. "We should get back on board."

**oOOOo**

We were, once again, in a shuttle. Bound for the bridge.

But I'd taken a pit stop for food. John had eaten while I was asleep, and he'd gotten me an apple, but after the biological equivalent of twenty-four hours without food...an apple wasn't much.

I was tearing into a BLT sandwich, sitting next to John. Ravenous hunger seemed to be something I felt a lot.

What felt like last month to me, I'd been held captive by the Covenant for two whole days. I'd been unconscious for most of it, so I hadn't eaten.

I used to joke about my irregular eating schedule, but now it was kind of extreme.

So extreme that I forgot to hold myself back. I felt my throat close up; I'd eaten too fast.

I couldn't breathe.

John, feeling my suffocation, turned to face me. "Tawny?" His voice was alarmed, his body poised to help.

Until he felt my emotions.

I wasn't alarmed or scared, I was annoyed. I didn't even give any external sign that I couldn't breathe.

This had happened before, he just hadn't been able to feel it. I was pretty good at hiding it.

Not that I had to hide it often; I could normally control myself and eat slower so that this didn't happen. But I was _so hungry_.

When my throat cleared I took a few deep breaths. I was used to it, but it was still incredibly unpleasant.

"Sorry," I said once my lungs felt better. My voice was still thick.

"What was that?"

"Acid reflux." I took another bite, speaking around it. "That happens when I eat too fast. I-it passes quickly enough."

John didn't look convinced.

"I got it from my dad, I think. Just another part of my body that's too weak." Wow, my voice got bitter fast.

"You're not weak."

"Oh, I know." I smiled a bit. "Just my body."

We were in the bridge. I reluctantly dropped the remainder of my sandwich into a receptacle.

Captain Del Rio was almost rabid with terror. He was putting me on edge, just being near him. "Well, it's nice of you two to join us."

I shifted my helmet to my left arm. "Captain, so nice to see you."

He scowled at my sickeningly sweet tone. Then he turned to the holotable.

I walked up to it and pressed my palms against the thick metal rim. "Okay, the gravity well's down. Now can we focus on taking the Didact down _before _he can-"

"Absolutely not. The _Song of the East_ cannot handle that kind of punishment." Del Rio shook his head. "Not again!"

Yep, he still wanted to retreat to Earth.

"Well, i-it doesn't matter what happens to the _Song_ now," I argued. "The Didact is planning to take over the entire _galaxy_. We _have_ to stop him, it doesn't matter how scared you are."

"Sir, we've seen what the Didact is capable of," John continued in a more respectful tone. "If we let him leave this world, humanity will be at risk."

Lasky looked between us, wondering what we'd seen.

"Look," Del Rio folded his hands behind his back and glared up at John, "I understand what you _think_ you saw."

I balked. "_What_? We didn't- are you saying we _imagined_ a plot to enslave the known galaxy?!"

John was equally affronted. "With all due respect, _sir_, I know what I saw."

Del Rio advanced on us with an aggressive pace. "And with all due respect to you, _soldier_, I'm not willing to jeopardize _my _ship because of the hallucinations of a sociopathic SPARTAN, and his schizophrenic girlfriend."

_Excuse_ me?

"Sir." Lasky stepped in from the other side of John. "What if they're right?"

The Captain stopped his pacing, looking up at Lasky with a dangerous expression. His anger was fueled by a selfish terror - he was _way_ out of his depth - and the more we talked about staying, the closer he got to snapping.

Instead of answering the Commander he issued orders with a disturbingly calm voice. "Nav, as soon as we know we're air_tight_, I was a course laid in to Carinae Station. Comm, prepare a warning beacon."

"Hey!" I stepped forward. "Why aren't you _listening_? The Didact's going to find us either way, but if we face him _here_ we can _keep_ him from getting to the rest of humanity!"

Del Rio scowled down at me. "You, shut your mouth. You are a _civilian_; you have _no say_ here. As soon as we reach Earth, I'm having you reassigned to a planetside station."

Was he _serious_?!

He was going to strip me from finding Forerunner artifacts? From any chance I had of seeing my friends again?

From John?

I would _not_ let that happen.

I stepped forward, indescribable rage filling me. It caused my eyes to well up with infuriating tears.

My helmet fell to the ground as I got up in the Captain's face. "_You're_ going to endanger the entire human race because you're too scared to try and fight! What is _wrong_ with you?! The Didact is going to kill _everyone_….if _we_ don't _stop_ him."

I felt everything around me shaking. Anything not secure, including some of the personnel, lifted up into the air.

_I_ lifted into the air. My hands were in fists at my side, my powers fluctuating so heavily the air around me rippled.

My rage reached a peak as the Captain himself began floating in front of me. His fear was like a drug that I inhaled readily. He was scared of _me_ now.

"I'm _not_ letting you leave Requiem without _killing the Didact_!" I roared.

John grabbed my arm, pulling me back to the ground. He rapidly sent me a flood of calm emotions. "Tawny."

My fight was brief. John wanted - needed - for me to calm down.

As much as I didn't want to - the rage in my chest was warm and addictive and distracted me from my own fear - I would accept the calm. For John.

I would do anything for John.

What I did fully hit me. I looked down at the Captain, who'd landed roughly on the floor as soon as my hold had dissipated.

The rest of my anger evaporated. "Oh, my god. I am so sorry."

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Tawny done fucked up. But, like, for good reason. Del Rio's an ass.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty Eight**

The Captain's rage wasn't fear-driven this time. He stood, looking from me to John to Lasky with wild eyes. "Commander, arrest her."

My eyes widened even more as I glanced up at Lasky. John, who was between us, half-turned to face him. Daring him to try it.

Lasky didn't move. He didn't want to.

I looked down, my chest heaving. "I am so, so sorry. That wasn't- I didn't mean to do that."

"Arrest her. _Now_, Commander."

Lasky, with an apologetic glance, began walking towards me. He was going to arrest me.

I backed away, wrapping my arms around myself. More tears raced down my face.

John stepped between us again, holding his arm out to keep me safe.

The Captain walked up to John, his eyes crazed. "Release. Her. Now."

His voice was dangerous. Soft. It trembled with rage.

"The Didact has to be stopped." John reached back and took my hand. "If you won't do that...we will."

He was trying to comfort me through the bond. I took a deep breath, willing the tears away.

"I...am ordering you...to _arrest that woman_!" Del Rio's voice came completely unhinged as he screamed in John's face. I sobbed.

John stepped forward, into the Captain's personal space. His voice was dark. "No, sir."

The Captain, his face contorting in rage, turned to the young SPARTAN III by the door. "Commander, arrest that man!"

Carter didn't move. He, too, thought the Captain was being a coward.

Lasky stepped forward. "Captain-"

"_Arrest him_!"

"Captain!" Lasky held his hand out.

Del Rio quieted, if only in shock at his subordinate's tone.

John turned to Lasky. "Get word to Earth that trouble is coming. Tawny and I will do what we can here to stop the Didact."

I held my hand out, pulling my fallen helmet into my grasp as we turned to walk out of the bridge.

The Captain, in a state of enraged disbelief, helplessly watched us leave.

**oOOOo**

We were near one of the lower level hangars of the ship. Somewhere the Captain probably wouldn't look.

We'd been there for hours. All night, actually. It was morning now; our third day on Requiem.

There was a sense of impending doom hanging over both of us.

I was facing a large window, staring out over the clouds. They were so deceptively beautiful. To think their whisps hid a monster.

"You know, John, we've made a lot of one way trips." My voice was soft and trembling.

John walked up, wrapping his arms around me from behind. I leaned into the embrace and soaked in the comfort it offered.

Then I looked down. "What if...this is the one that really does it?"

He leaned down, kissing the top of my head. Our helmets were both on a nearby crate, lying almost forgotten.

I turned into him, stretching up on the tip of my left foot in an attempt to reach him. He lowered himself, our lips meeting halfway.

John and I both knew the Didact intended to kill us. Composing, that was arguably death. But we couldn't be composed. The Didact would destroy us...completely.

I deepened the kiss, running my hand over the back of his head. His arms were locked around me. Holding me close. Keeping me safe.

Who would the Didact kill first? John? Or me?

Which one was worse?

"Tawny." John straightened up and ran a hand over my hair, stopping at the messy chignon at the nape of my neck. "We haven't lost yet."

My voice was a desolate whisper. "Not yet."

I closed my eyes, resting my head against his chest. I could feel the gouge in his armor, courtesy of 343. I could feel the burnt and blackened hair falling into my eye.

"And we won't," John said.

He fought to believe those words.

If he believed we could win...then we stood a chance, at least. If we thought we would lose straight away, we probably would.

I'd never thought about it like that.

I straightened my spine. "Right. We won't lose. We _can't_."

The outcome if we lost...it was unimaginable. We couldn't let the Didact's plans come to fruition.

He would compose the entire human race. Rule the galaxy with an iron fist.

It was up to John and me to stop it.

I shook my head. "I-I...I don't know why I'm being so..._crazy_."

John ran his thumb down my jaw. "You're not crazy."

"I'm sorry. I just feel so _mad_, I-"

There was someone coming our way.

Commander Lasky.

He sighed, walking up to us. "So what's your plan?"

John pulled away from me and grabbed a rifle he'd found and loaded a few hours ago. "The _Song_ tracked the Didact's vessel to a docking structure Southeast of here. We'll jump ship as you exit the roof."

Then we would be alone again.

Lasky looked between us. "You know, I was sent down here with orders to prevent you from leaving."

"But you aren't going to." I felt him; he wasn't about to stop us.

He smiled a bit. "In case you had already gone, I took the precaution of ordering a Pelican outfitted for full combat pursuit."

It rose up behind John, visible through a glass wall.

Lasky's voice was suddenly serious. Hushed, almost. "I hope to god you're wrong about that Forerunner. Or whatever he is, Chief. But in the event you're not…"

He offered us another tiny smile and nodded to the Pelican.

I looked up at him earnestly. "Thank you."

He hadn't saved our lives, but he'd supplied us with the tools to do so ourselves. That was huge. Especially against orders.

"Good luck." Lasky looked at John for a moment, then his eyes fell to me. "Both of you."

He walked away.

I stared at the ground for a minute, trying to solidify my willpower. Knowing we were about to be left behind. Alone with the Didact and his Prometheans.

I took a deep breath. It shook as I exhaled. "We should get going."

John was behind me. His helmet was on, and he was holding mine out to me.

I took it, holding it in both hands for a moment. Looking down at it. This helmet, which I felt like I'd only known a month or so, had been with me for nearly three years.

I pulled it on, listening to the hiss as it pressurized.

John led the way out of the room, towards the Pelican. "We have to keep the Didact on Requiem. He can't activate the Composer if he can't reach it."

Soldiers saluted John as we passed. Some of them were sympathetic, some didn't care about our fates, and some were reverent.

A few wished they could stay behind to help, and others were glad we were doing this so they didn't have to.

Either way, all of them had heard what happened on the bridge. And they knew we were going on a suicide mission. Without backup.

John was technically AWOL, I think, and I would have definitely broken some agreement in my civilian personnel contract.

We were completely alone on this. There would be no ride home for us, if we even survived the Didact.

As we walked, hand in hand, down a ramp, an announcement came over the speakers.

"Attention all hands." It was the emotionless female voice of the ship's systems. "Final call. Secure all hulls and prepare for immediate departure. Final call."

I looked at our intertwined hands. "This is it."

"Start preflight." John lowered the Pelican's ramp and led the way through the blood tray.

We settled into the cockpit and I searched the Pelican for any sort of ingrained preflight checklist; it would make my job a lot easier if there was one.

I couldn't find a built-in checklist, but that was fine. I could check everything myself.

The Pelican was no airplane, but it was a familiar setup. John was on the left; the main pilot. I was on the right; I was mainly along for the ride.

But I knew how to do a preflight check.

My mind entered the Pelican. Looked over everything, from the weapons to the engines.

After checking every essential system, and several secondary systems, I opened my eyes. "Okay...e-everything's good."

"Then let's get going." John ignited the engines.

The platform we were on began lowering. A launch tunnel was before us, offering us a straight shot out.

I could hear John flipping switches and feel his concentration moving from sensor to sensor as he prepared for our takeoff.

We were off. Launched out into the air. My head slammed back from the intense acceleration. I forced myself to adjust, ignoring the sharp pain in my neck.

"Contact," John warned.

Sure enough, straight ahead of us and among a host of floating pillars, the Didact's cryptum was floating. It was surrounded by an orange energy shield. I could see the outer shell of the planet, just above it.

We couldn't let him through.

"Can you find us a way through the shield?" John asked.

I closed my eyes and reached out.

These floating towers were controls. Of course.

"O-okay, there are two pillars controlling the shield. One controls the shields' power, and one is a comm tower. I think, if we- if we get to them, I can get the shield down."

John turned the Pelican towards the nearer of the two pillars. The power control.

We landed on a flat balcony, and the troop bay's ramp lowered. There was a door right in front of us.

I climbed out of the Pelican, listening to the ramp seal shut behind us. "You...you know it's full of Prometheans, right?"

John could hear the fear in my voice, feel it through our bond. He wanted to reassure me, but he didn't want to lie.

"It'll be okay," he said. And I could feel how determined he was to uphold that.

"Right." My voice was breathy.

I restrained myself from grabbing his hand. He would need it free, for the fight that was undoubtedly coming.

I led the way up the ramp, into the tower.

I could feel the controls. Somewhere ahead. I was following them, trying to locate them. But I couldn't get a specific location...only a general direction.

There was a huge chamber. It went down, down, down, farther than I could see. There were a series of platforms, hardlight bridges, and floating gondolas across it, to another huge balcony.

I felt my stomach turn at the gondolas; I'd been kidnapped aboard one. It had been my own damn fault, too.

It had cost me my left arm; thank god for flash-cloning.

I pointed, finally realizing where we needed to go. "The power generator is across the chamber from us. The o- the only way across is a gondola."

My gaze fell. I quickly refocused.

"But I have an idea. I know it didn't work before. But we didn't have th-the bond before, either."

John could feel what I intended to do. His hand wrapped around mine, providing a physical link. "Do it."

I closed my eyes, feeling the generator.

Focus.

I felt my body dissolve. Completely. John's, too.

We teleported to the central platform.

I grinned. "I did it!"

"Get back!" John pushed me behind him as Prometheans began appearing before us.

"Oh, no." I glanced over to the orange pillar of light. "I _need_ to get there, John. Can you hold them off?"

I hated leaving him, especially against so many enemies.

He jerked his head towards the generator's beam. "Go."

I broke for it. My ankle was screaming. The pain, which I was used to at this point, helped fuel me. For some reason.

It gave me something to focus on other than terror, at least.

I stepped into the beam, getting a physical connection. I didn't need one, but it made things easier.

Okay, it had a very specific frequency. Almost like the Covenant energy shields.

But this one wouldn't collapse under disharmonious frequencies. It needed the same frequency.

I could do that.

"Alright." I closed my eyes. "Let's do this."

My body began emitting the same frequency as the generator. There was no pain, no struggle for power.

The beam just cut off. It was so simple.

So incredibly simple.

I turned and saw John under fire from a pack of crawlers. He'd shot most of them down, but that only gave way for the knights behind them.

One knight, in particular, had a massive gun up on his shoulder. It was aimed right at John, heating up and preparing to fire.

My hand shot out, encasing John in a protective bubble as the Promethean fired.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: AYYYYY by the next time I update I will either have failed the driver's test or be a licensed driver! I'm taking the test HELLA late and all the people in my driver's ed class are chiLDREN it makes me feel old lmao**

**How have you guys been? Are things starting to reopen where you are?**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter Twenty Nine**

The enemy fire stung me as it hit the barrier, but it was manageable. Even the heavy shells.

John stopped firing and looked towards the entrance to the tower, where we had been. There was a gondola, full of Covenant troops, approaching.

John looked at the encroaching Prometheans. The approaching Covenant. "Get us to the Pelican."

I ran forward, through the shield, and wrapped my arms around his waist. We dispersed into tiny blue particles that floated through the air before they, too, dissipated.

We reappeared on the landing platform, right next to the Pelican.

There was a voice in my head. In John's head.

The Didact.

I gripped desperately at my helmet, curling in on myself and backing away. "No...no!"

"_The Mantle of Responsibility for the galaxy shelters all, humans. But only the Forerunners are its masters."_

"Get out! Get _out_!" I was curled up on the ground, my hands over my head.

"Tawny." John tried to draw my attention away from the Didact. "Tawny!"

He entered my mind.

"_He's gone. We need to move."_

I whimpered. "We can't…"

"We have to."

He knelt beside me, picking me up from under my arms and setting me on the ground. Then he spun me around to face him. On his knees, he was about as tall as me.

"It's up to us to stop the Didact from leaving Requiem. I need your help." His voice was strong and steady.

I struggled to even out my breathing. There were tears in my eyes. John couldn't see them, but he knew they were there because I knew they were there.

Focus.

My voice was breathy, but unwavering. "Okay. Let's go."

John helped me to my feet. We walked together through the Pelican, up into the cockpit, and I strapped myself in.

I looked down, chewing on my lip. "John, I'm sorry."

"It's alright." He lifted the Pelican off of the landing platform.

I looked out, at the clouds around us. They were so beautiful. Peaceful, almost.

"Where's the second tower?"

I started. "Oh. Um, there." I pointed to one of the towers. I could feel the systems inside.

John used my knowledge, more than my generally directed point, to locate the tower.

We landed. This one looked exactly like the first; we were in the right place.

"John, maybe you should stay here. I-I can be in and out."

John lowered the ramp. "Absolutely not. Someone needs to hold off the Prometheans."

I limped after him as he walked through the blood tray. "No, John, this isn't the _same_ as the first tower. I can shut it down without-"

"_Your actions tread between honor and foolishness."_

I shuddered as the Didact spoke into our minds once again. But it was a quick brush; he was gone as quickly as he came and left only a bitter aftertaste in my mind.

John was quick to refocus. "Can you shut the tower down?"

My head fell against his arm as I struggled to get the feel of the Didact out of my mind. My eyes were clenched shut. I had to _focus_.

"Yeah, I can." I finally nodded.

"Then let's move."

"No, you don't _get_ it. I can do it from here." I reached out to grab his wrist.

He seemed a bit surprised. I was, too, but I _really_ didn't want to go in the tower. I could get it down from out here.

Even if my tone had been a bit bitchy, my words were true.

John nodded. "Do it."

I shoved my mind into the system. I would have to make this _fast_; no doubt Ur-Didact could feel me. He would try to take over my mind.

I had to be quick.

Okay...find the tower's power source. It's not that hard. Just trace a few things back as far as they'll go.

Found it. At the top of the spire.

Now, shut it down.

If I was using my hands, or was in my body at all, they would have been shaking. As is, my suit was stiff. My mind was entirely in the tower.

Entirely vulnerable to the Didact, who I could feel searching for me.

"_You are a fool. Even now, your kind tinkers with the Composer in the shadow of the third ring. Children and fire, who disregard the welfare of the galaxy."_

So he'd found the Composer.

He hadn't found me. He was just broadcasting to me. Hoping I would hear him, grow scared, and slip up.

Well, that wasn't going to happen. I was about to shut the tower down.

No, wait.

If I shut it down, he could get it right back up. I had to _destroy_ the power source.

Overload it.

Set everything to surge all of their power back into it. Everything. Every doorway, every gondola. Every light. Every elevator, every gravlift.

All. Of. It.

It was done in a moment. The power source would soon overload. It might even explode.

That wouldn't be very good for us.

I fell back into my body just before the Didact found me.

It took me a moment to regain my bearings. "We need to get off of this pillar."

John put a comforting hand on my shoulder, and we walked together back into the cockpit.

"_Do you truly believe these theatrics can prevent my departure? Embrace your sad fate and retain your nobility. I am already beyond you."_

John lifted us up into the air. Now that we'd disrupted the Didact's communications throughout his troops, he was planning on taking the Promethean down.

"We can't get close to the cryptum; he'll destroy us."

"So...so how are we supposed to keep him from leaving?" I asked.

He thought for a minute. "Can you move the towers?"

"What?"

"Can you move the towers? Keep the Didact from leaving?"

I turned the idea over in my mind. "That...that might work. I'll find out how to do it. Please, d-don't let us get shot down."

We were both aware of the Covenant fleet nearby. They hadn't seen us yet, and with the comm tower disabled it was hard for them to coordinate, but that didn't mean they weren't a threat.

My eyes closed. I trusted John. He could keep us safe.

"Okay, there's a control spire over there." I pointed. "I-I might be able to take control of the other pillars from inside."

John wordlessly readjusted the Pelican. His mind was connected to mine, feeling what I felt. Pinpointing the control pillar.

It was massive, hanging from the ceiling of Requiem's shell like an imposing stalactite.

John landed the Pelican smoothly on the landing platform. The ramp lowered so slowly.

I all but threw myself out, growing increasingly desperate to stop the Didact. "Come on! There's a gravlift that can take us to the control room!"

John was right behind me as I flew up the ramp. The door opened for us, revealing a hallway. Another ramp.

The gravlift was right in front of us. I flew into the blue beam and felt it lift me up. I was weightless. So was John, right below me.

The Didact was back. Now that I knew he wasn't _really_ in our minds, it was more bearable.

"_You will relent, humans, or you will perish. All in life is choice. And your day to choose...has come."_

We were close to the controls.

As soon as we'd landed on the ground, the floor beneath us began shifting. Moving. We were perilously close to a new gap; we could fall down into a cavern.

I pointed to the unmoving platform in the middle of the room. "There! Another gravlift!"

"Let's move." John surrounded himself in ultrasound and lifted off of the unstable floor. I was quick to follow him.

The floor continued to move around beneath us. The Didact was changing the tower, trying to impede our progress.

Well, it didn't do him much good. We were unaffected by the changes from up in the air.

A host of Covenant soldiers began firing on us from a platform. I threw out a pulse. It was enough to distract them while John and I landed before the gravlift.

There were two Hunters. I shoved them aside with matching pulses from each hand.

We needed to _hurry_. The Didact was preparing to leave the planet; we couldn't keep him from leaving if he was already gone.

The gravlift took us up, up, up.

The cavernous room we landed in was full of Covenant.

I groaned. "We can't stop!"

"Then don't." John grabbed my hand and lifted once more into the air. "Where?"

"That door! The controls are in there!"

He pulled me along. One thing I was beginning to discover; John's telekinesis had more brute strength. Mine could manipulate more detailed things. It seemed like a fair trade off.

Because of that, it was easier for John to go faster.

I was all but thrown into the room as soon as the door opened. I staggered up the ramp, grimacing as my ankle rolled _again_.

The controls were _right there_. There was a window beyond them; I could see Ur-Didact's cryptum past that.

"Okay," I slid to a halt before the console, "let's get this over with."

I pulled up the holographic control panel. My eyes scanned it, trying to figure out where to move the spires.

"Um, maybe this will…"

My fingers dragged the spires into a pile above the cryptum. Outside, the physical spires began shifting to match their holographic counterparts.

"_Foolish child!"_

I screamed as the Didact spiked into my mind through my minute connection to the console. My body seized, falling back as a lance of pain immobilized me.

"Tawny!" John caught me before I could fall.

He could feel my pain, remotely, I knew. It wouldn't affect him, but he would definitely be aware of it.

I came back to my senses. "I-I have to...he's moving the spires!"

We could look out through the window and see the spires falling away from his ship.

"Tawny." John reached for me as I stumbled back towards the console.

The Didact had locked it up.

"No! No, no, I have to get in. I have to…" I tried to slip through a crack in the lockdown.

It was a trap.

Pain shot through my body again. I screamed, backing away from the console and gripping my head.

"Dammit! We can't let him get away! We _can't_." My voice dissolved into a sob.

"Tawny." John was there, grabbing my shoulders. "You can't get into the system."

"I have to." I felt tears welling up in my eyes.

"His ship's online. It's too late."

"No," I whispered. The tears spilled over, running down my cheeks and soaking into the lining of my helmet.

"We can still get across to the Didact's ship."

"How?" I threw my hands out. "If he sees us coming, he'll shoot us out of the sky."

John walked over to the window. "He won't see us coming."

I sniffed. "What do you mean?"

He nodded down to the Covenant ships passing below us. "We're taking a Lich."

"We're what?" I tried to make my voice sound normal, but all that came out was a pitiful whimper of sorts.

His hand wrapped around my wrist. "I won't let you fall."

"I-I know. Why-"

He smashed his shoulder into the window. It shattered around us as John tugged me out into the air beside him. But we weren't flying.

We were falling.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! This week felt so long. Did it feel long for you guys?**

**My state's started reopening some stuff. Are things opening up near you all yet? I hope you're all staying safe!**


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter Thirty**

The wind screamed around us as we fell. John's left hand was tight around my right wrist, keeping me close. It wouldn't be good if we got split up.

John aimed himself down, pulling his limbs close to fall faster. I copied him. His hand was still around my wrist; the wind ripped at our connected limbs.

It hurt.

But I imagined getting killed by the Didact would hurt worse.

The Lich was growing closer. John, moving almost too fast to process, pulled me close, flipped over in the air, and unsheathed his combat knife.

He released the hold on my wrist and wrapped his left arm around me.

I could hear a roar as the thruster pack on his back fired. His right hand shot out, the combat knife tearing through the metal of the Lich.

We were hanging from its smooth, rounded surface by a knife.

John pushed me up onto the roof of the Lich with both his arm and his powers. I scrambled for a hand hold.

When I was secure I looked down. "John?"

He was behind me. He'd already climbed up.

I hugged his neck. He was crouched down atop the Lich; I was on my knees.

"Thank god," I breathed.

Something pulsed within the cryptum, so far above us. Something else shifted beneath us. I couldn't see it through the clouds.

The Didact's cryptum began falling.

"What's happening?" John pulled me close, almost under him. He still had his knife buried in the metal; he was significantly more stable than I was.

I glanced around with wide eyes, praying his grip wouldn't falter. "I-I don't know! Something big."

The cryptum rushed past us. Down, through the clouds.

My eyes followed it. My neck strained as I stretched to keep it in my sight.

I felt my stomach pit with dread. "Oh, my god."

"What is it?" John's voice was level; holding me up, even with my 300 lbs suit added to my own body weight, was no struggle for him.

"He has a ship," I whimpered. "I-it's huge."

John looked down. Sure enough, an impossibly big vessel was rising up. The cryptum lowered into the tip of the ship.

The Lich was changing its course. As the gargantuan Forerunner ship rose up beside us, a whole swarm of Liches followed. A hole opened in Requiem's shield.

Whatever happened, one thing was for sure; we had failed in our mission.

The Didact had left Requiem.

We, too, were rising up and out of the planet. I wrapped my arms around John, curling into his body as gravity cut out. We were weightless.

Thank god for his knife. We might have been pulled away if it wasn't buried in the Lich's armor, even with the magnets of his boots engaged.

A huge black and blue portal opened before the Didact's ship. He was making a slipspace jump!

"John?" Fear leaked heavily into my voice.

"Hold on." He tightened his grip on me and shoved us forward. We were under one of the protruding edges of the Lich.

Hopefully the shields would protect us from the radiation of slipspace.

I buried my helmet in John's shoulder. His body was wrapped uncomfortably tight around mine, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Honestly, it was somewhat of a comfort to be able to feel him.

To know he was safe. For now, at least.

I screwed my eyes shut as we entered slipspace.

We reappeared in an asteroid field. John looked down at me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good." I nodded.

He stood up and magnetized his boots to the Lich. "Another Halo?"

I shoved myself up next to him. "_What_?"

He nodded to something I couldn't quite see yet.

It came into sight as a large asteroid moved out of the way. There, above us, was Installation 03. A Halo I hadn't seen yet.

Wait…

"John! The-the Didact mentioned a Composer 'in the shadow of the third ring'."

He began looking around.

All I could see from where I stood was rubble.

"There."

"What is it?" I disengaged the magnets in my boots and floated up, holding on to John's shoulder.

There, built into an asteroid, was a human research station.

I looked down at John. "That's probably where the Composer is."

"I was thinking the same thing. Come on."

"What are we doing?" I remagnetized my boots and followed him down the side of the Lich.

He pulled the energy sword off of his thigh. "We're taking this ship."

"Oh, okay." I laughed in a dry manner. "I was worried it was going to be something crazy. Like all your other plans. The ones that nearly get us both _killed_."

_Why_ was I being such a _bitch_?

I tried to calm down - I had no good reason to be angry, anyway - as we moved towards the bottom of the ship.

"Ready?" John and I were standing, the porthole at our feet.

I nodded.

"Go." He stepped in first.

I followed. The gravlift lifted me up into the ship. There was gravity - albeit artificial - in the ship.

And I was upside down.

A bubble of ultrasound quickly surrounded me. I floated myself into an upright position and looked around. John was beside me, having landed successfully on his feet without any assistance from his powers.

"_How many?" _John asked through the bond; he wasn't about to risk the Covies hearing us.

I reached out. "_Three Sangheili."_

"_Where are they?"_ He had the energy sword out, but he didn't ignite it yet.

"_Two are in the front. One's coming this way."_

A rough hand emerged from the shadows and yanked me back by my arm. The third Sangheili- I hadn't realized he was so _close_.

Before he could hurt me John punched him in the chest and lit up the sword. It burned through his torso, destroying his hearts. The body fell to the ground.

"Are you alright?" John turned to me.

I nodded; the Sangheili hadn't hurt me. I wasn't even scared, just surprised.

"Then let's go."

He took point through the hallway. I was reaching out, but I still only felt the two Sangheili.

We reached the cockpit. I moved in front of John. "I'll get the door."

"Be careful."

"I will, don't worry." I sent my mind into the door controls.

The door slid open to reveal two Sangheili. Their backs were to us.

One of them half-turned, not looking quite at us. "**What was it, brother?"**

I sent out a pulse, slamming both of them against the viewport. "**It's us."**

John wasted no time. The energy sword beheaded the nearest Sangheili while he was still dazed on the ground.

The second Sangheili - the pilot - pushed himself to his feet. "**How **_**dare**_ **you-"**

John skewered him on the sword. The body thudded against the floor at my feet.

"Tawny, can you access the ship's comms?"

He was dead. His lifeless, glassy eyes stared up at me. They weren't accusing, they were empty.

"Tawny."

My eyes lifted from the lifeless soldier.

"Yes." I sounded a bit startled. "I can do that."

I blinked heavily; I was _so_ out of it. What was wrong with me? First I'm a raging bitch, then I'm crying over the Sangheili who just tried to kill us?

I shook myself out of my thoughts. John was concerned listening to them; we had to fucking focus.

My hand came down on the control panel. "I need to find that station's channel. It shouldn't take long; they're-they're probably transmitting enough."

John was silent behind me. He was worried, but not discouraged. Things hadn't gone according to plan, but our plan had been slapdash at best.

We could work with what we had.

I felt the station's comm channel through a mayday they were sending out. "Got it. P-patching us through now."

I stepped back to let him speak. I still wasn't too familiar with military protocol.

John looked out at the research center. "This is UNSC Master Chief to base. Do you read?"

"I read you, Master Chief" a tense, Hungarian-accented voice answered. "This is Dr. Laszlo Sorvad of Ivanoff Station. We're under attack from Covenant forces, we heed assistance!"

"They're after a Forerunner artifact you took from the Halo ring."

"How did you- you shouldn't know about that."

"Doctor. I need you to protect that artifact until we arrive." John's voice was almost harsh. "Send whatever you have to in order to keep it secure."

"Right away, Master Chief."

John cut the comm and took control of the ship. We were right outside the station.

He landed us roughly inside the hangar. "Let's go."

I followed him out of the cockpit, down the gravlift. The hangar was bustling with panicked personnel.

John opened a comm. "Dr. Sorvad, are you there?"

There was a video in the corner of my HUD. An older man with greying hair and a matching brownish beard.

He looked calm despite the situation. "I'm here. Do you know why this is happening? When the rupture opened we-"

"Doctor, listen to me." John began speed-walking through the station. I had to fly to keep up. "You have to issue the order to evacuate the station."

"We cannot evacuate now, Master Chief. We are trapped; the Covenant has control of the landing bays."

I talked to John through the bond so the doctor couldn't hear me. "_That's not good."_

"_It's not,"_ he agreed.

We walked towards a door. I landed, my ankle rolling under the weight. I tried to hide it, but John's head snapped back to check on me regardless.

He quickly refocused on the doctor. "Send us your coordinates. I'll see what I can do about clearing an evac route on our way to you."

The video feed cut out as Dr. Sorvad moved to do that.

I reached out. "John, Covenant beyond the doorway. There are a few humans, but they're not doing great."

"Keep an eye out for those coordinates. I'll handle the Covenant."

I could feel how much he wanted me to stay out of the fighting. My gaze fell. "Fine. But if you need help-"

"I know. You'll be there." He reached up and tapped the side of my helmet with his fingers. I could feel his longing; he wished we weren't in armor. Weren't in danger.

He wished his fingers had just touched my cheek, instead of gauntlet on metal.

Focus.

John turned, walking through the doorway. There was a human - a security guard of some sort - firing at the Covenant soldiers with a pistol from the middle of the hall.

John rushed forward, shielding the young man with his own body, and turned his pistol on the approaching Unggoy. I hadn't even seen him pull the sidearm from his thigh, the motion was so fast.

Something showed up on my HUD. I looked up. "John! I got the coordinates!"

He reattached the pistol to his leg and pulled out his rifle. It tore through the Unggoy as they approached in a broken-up wave. "How far?"

"Um…" I checked the information. "Across the station."

I threw my hands up in exasperation.

"Nothing is _ever_ easy, is it? Not one thing."

"Focus." He led the way into another hallway.

Empty.

"I-it's like the Domain decided to shit on us this week," I continued. "No, this year. Wait, no, that's right. We got stuck in cryosleep for three years! So it's been even _longer_ than that!"

"Tawny." John turned to face me so suddenly I almost hit him. His voice was low. Dangerous. "Focus."

I realized I'd been being a bitch again. Why?

Why couldn't I control myself?

Why was I even in such a selfish mood?

It didn't matter. John was right.

I had to _focus_.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! How are you all doing; I know COVID is still being stressful, and any of you near big cities in the U.S. are definitely feeling the tension between protestors and the cops rn. It's stressful, ngl, but I believe in all of you!**

**Not to be That Person but you guys should definitely check out The Arcana. It's an awesome fantasy game, and it's the most fun I've had on mobile in so long :)**


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter Thirty One**

It hadn't been that hard to reach Dr. Sorvad. The Covies were focused but manageable. Even in the landing bays, which John and I had liberated.

I hadn't expended too much energy yet, so I was definitely in the fight.

Even if my ankle was barely supporting my weight.

The station had been scanned by the Didact while John and I were fighting through a group of Kig Yar. That meant he didn't know where the Composer was.

Which meant we could still keep him from getting it.

There were a few security guards looking over the carnage around us.

Most of the corpses were Covenant, thanks to John and me. But we still had to talk to Dr. Sorvad; the head scientist of the station.

I pointed towards a door. "The doctor is in there."

John walked forward, pressing the door controls. They slid open and revealed Dr. Sorvad standing close by. He'd been waiting.

His fear was making my own heart speed up; he was absolutely terrified. He was just amazing at concealing the outward signs.

He started walking alongside us. "I need to know why this is happening, Master Chief. What does Jul 'Mdama's Covenant want with the artifact?"

We walked onto an elevator platform and the doctor started us down.

As the doctor pressed a few buttons, John shifted the rifle in his hands. "The device you recovered was a Forerunner weapon. The commander of that ship wants it back."

Dr. Sorvad looked up at him in confusion. "You know that it cannot be moved...do you?"

John and I shared a glance; we hadn't known that.

I brushed against him. "_Now what? I'm sure the Didact can move it with _his _ship."_

John looked out the viewport. I could feel the gears turning in his mind.

He turned to look at the doctor. "Can you give Tawny access to the station's supply manifest?"

Dr. Sorvad nodded and pressed a few buttons on the control panel. "Of course, Master Chief. May I ask why?"

"If we can't move the Composer, we have to make sure the Didact can't either."

Oh.

We were going to destroy the station.

I felt the encryption over the supply manifest dissolve before me. I also felt the horror and dread mounting within the doctor.

He turned to John, praying he could be dissuaded. "Are you sure there is _no_ way to save this station? We have _so much_ knowledge we have uncovered here."

I'd found something we could use.

I looked down, unable to meet the desperate man's eyes. My voice was low. "There are...seven excavation grade Havok nukes."

Dr. Sorvad's horror reached a peak.

John could feel it, remotely, through me. And he _did_ feel bad. But we had to keep all of humanity safe.

He glanced at me, then back to Sorvad. His voice was softer than usual. "I'm sorry, doctor. Keep routing your people to the evac centers. Once we take care of the Composer, you won't have much time."

I could feel the doctor swallowing his grief. Pained acceptance spread throughout him. "I understand, Master Chief. We will prepare the warheads for you."

"I'm so sorry." I looked up at him. "We wish there was some other way."

John began walking away. "Let's go."

So we left Dr. Sorvad alone and grieving. A desolate form, displaced by the Didact.

Hopefully we could make him one of the last ever affected by this monster.

We walked out, along one small portion of the Composer.

Something shook the station.

I gripped John's arm. "That didn't sound good."

"Doctor, what was that?"

Sorvad sounded horrified. "The Covenant...they shot _down_ the first evacuation shuttle. It was completely destroyed."

"Oh, god." I glanced up at John as we walked past some security guards. "Those shuttles are full of civilians."

John wanted to argue that I was a civilian myself. Before he could, I quickly brushed against him with a faint memory. One, from years ago now, when I'd first asked to join Blue Team on the field.

Despite what my file said, I was no longer a civilian. I was no soldier, but I stopped being a real civilian the moment ONI snatched me up to be Dr. Halsey's newest experiment.

So John relented.

He glanced down at me. "Does this station have any defenses?"

I closed my eyes and checked. "It does. A few turrets. I can- I might be able to get them back online and covering the shuttles."

John opened a comm. "Doctor, we need to get the station's turrets online."

"Do you need- I'll send you the coordinates now."

The coordinates showed up on my HUD. I nodded. "Thank you, doctor."

We walked past a pair of quarrelling men. One of them, a scientist, was fussing that the security guard didn't know how to use a Mantis for combat purposes.

Well, neither did I. We couldn't stop to help them figure it out.

John walked ahead of me - keeping an eye on my limp through the bond - towards the coordinates Dr. Sorvad had provided.

We were in a hallway. There was an airtight door to our left; the coordinates were through it.

I pushed my mind into the system. "Okay, door's opening."

"Seal it behind us."

We walked through. I turned, locking the door after it had hissed shut. There was a ramp behind me, littered with Covenant corpses.

I felt something building. "John, there's another scan!"

He gripped my hand as the orange light washed over us. Both of us were tense.

The Didact's voice in our heads didn't help.

"_You impress me, humans. Your singular valor will be preserved and studied, once you have both been composed."_

I shoved down the sick terror in my chest. Took a deep breath. "He doesn't know what the Librarian did to us."

"We need to move."

I understood what John meant and lifted off of the ground. He was going to run; I stood no chance keeping up with him on foot when I _wasn't_ injured, let alone when I was.

An announcement came over the intercom system, announcing one of the bays had been cleared for evac.

"SPARTAN!" one terrified security guard called. "In here! They've got us cut off!"

John ran up, snapping a Sangheili's neck.

There was a young scientist who sounded relieved. "Hey! It's the military!"

"John, look out!" I tried to pull him away from an Unggoy who was running towards us with two active grenades in his hands.

Instead of running he kicked the Unggoy away and fired several shots into him. _Then_ he turned, tackling me to the ground as the explosion tore through any nearby Unggoy.

No humans had been hurt, though.

John pushed himself up and offered me a hand. I didn't say anything, but I knew he was aware of the steady ache in my side. I suspected something was bruised in my ribs from when the Didact had slammed us against the wall two days ago.

They hadn't hurt that badly until John had tackled me down.

I tried to push his guilt down. "_Hey, it would probably hurt worse if I got killed by a grenade."_

I had a point, so he let it go. He had to.

From that point out, we faced Covenant soldiers. I could still see the nav marker on my HUD. We were getting steadily closer to the defense controls.

After they were online, these people could start evacuating.

John shot down a few more Unggoy. I saw a Kig-Yar approaching from down the hallway.

My hand shot out, wrapping around him with ultrasound. I lifted him up and slammed him back into the ground. His neck snapped.

Another scan moved over us. I grimaced as it washed over my body.

Well, that meant the Didact still hadn't found the Composer. There was hope yet.

We ran out into a room. There was a viewport, showing another portion of the Composer.

"There! That console." I flew myself over to it, hardly noticing the Covenant soldiers around me.

I'd been shot at enough in the past few days; the thrill of fear at the bullets was easy to tune out. My bond with John - who got shot at for a living, pretty much - helped a bit.

I kept loose tabs on him as I worked on the console. He was holding his own; there were only a handful of Unggoy and a Sangheili. He would be fine.

And if he wasn't, I would know. I could help him.

"Okay...okay…" My eyes scanned over the information displayed on the holographic control panel.

John stabbed the Sangheili in the throat with his knife. "Dr. Sorvad, are you there?"

"I am here, Master Chief. What is it?"

I responded, "I almost have it online, doctor. Just a...got it! They're up!"

"So you do." He sounded relieved. "I will send out the final evacuation orders."

John was thinking a few steps ahead. "The nuke?"

"It is nearly done, Master Chief. Come back up to us; we will help you take it to the artifact."

I looked up, out the viewport. At the spire of the Composer.

I felt like something was about to happen.

We'd cleared the path on our way down. Now, all there was to do was make our way to the doctor. Then we could destroy the Composer.

Even if the Didact killed us in his rage, and even if he went on to try and subjugate the rest of the galaxy, he would have nothing with which to make a new army. Humanity would defeat him, as we'd defeated the Covenant.

We were gritty survivors. This would _not_ be the end of us.

Still, I couldn't help but feel anxious. I was limping after John, not wanting to overexert myself by flying. Just in case something went wrong.

We would probably have to fight the Didact after the Composer was gone. And, even if he killed us, I was okay with that. John was, too.

So long as humanity stood a chance. And they stood no chance if Ur-Didact had the Composer.

We walked out into another viewport. There were Covenant and Promethean troops swarming around the giant metallic tower in the clearing.

"No!" I ran forward, towards the glass.

John's stomach pitted. "They found the Composer."

I turned to face him. "We need to get to Sorvad!"

"Doctor, the Composer's location's compromised," he warned. "You've _got_ to get that nuke down here!"

"Master Chief, I am sorry, it is not ready!"

John ran out, towards the Composer, and began firing on the Covenant ground troops. "Ready or _not_, I need it _now_."

There were two huge problems. A Lich, above us, and a Covenant tank approaching.

John still wasn't entirely used to flying.

So I flew up into the air. "John, I'll get the Lich."

"I'll handle the tank."

I rose up, thirty feet in the air. My hand stretched out, the fingers spread wide.

A slow, thick pulse rippled from my body and towards the Lich. When it passed over the ship it wrapped around it, like a net.

I made a fist. The Lich crumpled up into a ball.

The ball fell onto a squad of Unggoy with an earth-shaking _thud_. They all died either in the crash, or in the consequential inferno.

John had taken the tank and, in a similar maneuver, slung it into a Sangheili and his Kig Yar. The last of the visible opposition.

I saw something in my motion tracker. Landing heavily on the ground, I grabbed John's arm. "There are three Banshees closing in."

He mentally prepped himself for another fight. "Let's not keep them waiting."

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! I decided to update a little early because I'm bored. I'll still update on Saturday don't worry :)**

**Love y'all!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter Thirty Two**

A huge round of plasma struck the ground next to me. My natural fear response was to tense up, and pray someone would save me.

But John, the only other person out here who didn't want to see me dead, was preoccupied with a similar foe.

Fucking _Banshees_.

I heard a massive explosion. Still flying desperately away from my own pursuer, I checked in on John.

He'd just destroyed two Banshees at once.

I turned, throwing out a pulse. It rocked the Banshee on my tail. A brief distraction.

That was all I needed.

I made a fist. Waves of ultrasound compounded on the Banshee, locking it in place. Then, at my behest, it was thrown savagely to the ground.

The metal crumpled under the pressure.

I released a breath and let myself sink to the ground.

John gripped my shoulder, making sure I was okay. Then, "Dr. Sorvad, where's the warhead? _Dr. Sorvad_?"

There was no response.

John grabbed my arm, since he would have had to bend down to reach my hand, and began speed-walking for the elevator. "Keep trying to contact the doctor. We need to get to the warhead."

I struggled to keep up with him, with his massive paces.

Even as I ran along after him, limping severely, I tried the comm channel. "Doctor? Doctor, are you there? The-the Covies are all over the Composer; we _need_ that nuke. I-if you can hear me, please keep working."

Nothing.

As we walked into the elevator, something blipped on my HUD. A scanner was alerting me; I didn't know what it meant.

But my gut was telling me it had something to do with the Composer.

"John, I don't- I don't think that's good."

"I don't either." He switched to the comm. "Dr. Sorvad!"

"He can't hear us, John."

Something was outside. The Didact's ship. It was projecting an orange beam out towards us.

I stepped back in a futile attempt to get away from the invasive light. "What-what's he doing?"

"The Composer!" John was staring out the viewport.

I followed his gaze. Distinct horror lodged in my stomach; the Didact's ship was lifting the Composer out of its dock.

"No! He's- we have to _stop_ him!" I gripped at my helmet.

"Find Sorvad."

"O-okay." I nodded. "I can- I can do that."

My eyes closed as I sent my mind into the systems. Readings flew past my perception, but I only cared about one. I _had_ to find the doctor. If we got to the nuke fast enough, maybe we could still destroy the Composer.

_Before_ the Didact had the chance to exterminate humanity.

My eyes shot open. "He's in the B-deck, level...three-fifty."

John immediately turned to activate the elevator.

Outside, the Composer was being lifted closer and closer to the Didact's ship.

I had no idea how we were supposed to destroy it, but John had a plan. I didn't know what it was, but he had faith in it.

And I had faith in him.

My eyes closed as I struggled to calm myself down.

"Everything is going to be _okay_," I whispered to myself. "It has to be."

The elevator stopped. John ran out into a hallway. It was full of scientists and technicians in varying degrees of panic. They all threw themselves out of John's way.

Dr. Sorvad was there, stationary amidst the chaos with two other scientists. And a little girl with short brown hair. His daughter, if I had to guess, since she was holding his hand. Her other arm was wrapped around a faded brown teddy bear.

"They've compromised the station's hull," he said to his companions. "We have to bring up-"

John jogged up to him. "The Didact's taken the Composer. Get these people to the evac centers!"

He did a double take. "What do you mean, he's _taken_ the Composer?"

John didn't answer him. His voice was rushed as he pointed to a console and looked down at me. "Tap the flight deck. Find us something that can carry a payload."

"Right." I placed my hand on the console and sent my mind into the system.

Let's see...Pelicans, Condors, Albatrosses.

Oh, a Broadsword. That would do the job.

"I found something." My eyes opened.

But something was _wrong_.

Dr. Sorvad was staring out the viewport. "It's like something is...building."

He was right; I could feel something building within the ship. John and I realized what it was at the same time.

I grabbed the doctor's elbow. "He's going to fire the Composer! You have to get out of-"

The beam fired.

A hundred screams rose up from around us. Dr. Sorvad's face contorted in agony as his skin peeled off into orange embers. Then his musculature. Then his skeleton. He was gone, like all the others.

A Promethean, now.

I stared down at my hand, feeling vaguely sick. He had _just_ been there. They had all been there, and now they were gone.

That little girl...she was now a pile of ashes and a digitized monster. Not even her teddy bear was left.

The strength of the Composer hit me. I could feel it trying to vaporize my body, yanking at my mind. It was almost agony.

John was under similar strain.

I heard him hit the ground behind me, groaning in pain.

"No!" My voice was a croak.

This wasn't happening.

The Composer's strength fully, entirely hit me. I screamed, falling to the ground as my muscles both seized and went lax several times in the span of milliseconds.

My eyes fluttered. I could see John; I'd fallen backwards. I was splayed out on his back.

Orange light flickered over both of us.

That was the last thing I saw.

**oOOOo**

My entire body was sore. My _mind_ was sore. Like it had been hit with something large and strong and unforgiving.

A cracked groan made its way out of my throat.

"Tawny."

Oh, I knew that voice. Full of longing, but familiar.

My eyes opened lethargically. "John?"

We were in a dark and empty hallway. It stank of death. Not quite death, now that I focused.

Something worse.

I gained my bearings. I was cradled in John's lap; he was sitting against the wall.

Something felt wrong.

I sat up, ignoring the screams of a hundred muscles in my arms and torso, and looked around. There were piles of dark ashes all around us.

My voice was hardly steady. "What happened?"

"The Didact Composed the station."

My stomach dropped. "He...no. He didn't."

John just wrapped an arm around my back, pulling me close. Seeing that many people die, just like that, in such a horrid manner...

Especially knowing it wasn't _really_ death...

It had gotten to him.

"Hey." I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "There was nothing anyone could have done."

"We should have found Sorvad as soon as they discovered its location."

I sat back up. "John."

His helmet was pointed down, towards the floor.

"John." I moved his chin up so that he was looking at me. "You didn't compose these people."

He said nothing.

"The Didact composed them. You were trying to stop him."

"And I failed."

"_We_ failed." I took a breath and felt the raw guilt. "We did. But it wasn't just you."

I ran my hand down the side of his helmet, wishing it was skin-to-skin contact.

I took a shaky breath. "We can still keep him from composing the rest of us. Come on."

My ankle tried to roll as I forced myself to my feet. I ignored it, grabbing his hand.

I knew I wouldn't be able to pull him up. I could motivate him, but he would have to stand on his own.

He looked close to breaking. He _felt_ close to breaking.

I shoved my fear down. "It's us, John. The Librarian, she did this to us to make us capable of defeating him. Your augmentations, our powers, she planned them so long ago there isn't a year to describe it."

He looked up at me.

"And, even after that, the Domain gave us _more_ powers. It gave us our connection. _We_ can defeat the Didact." I took a breath. "Not you. And not me. It's going to take both of us."

The armor covering him, protecting him, pierced the silence as he pushed himself to his feet. He took my hands in a firm grip. His head was bowed under the weight of so much death.

"Did you find a ship?"

I nodded. "There are some in Hangar C-Eleven. Broadswords, I think."

His right hand came up, running down the side of my helmet. Once again, we were both wishing for more intimate contact.

But he wouldn't take away anything that could protect me.

I leaned into his touch. I couldn't feel it, but I could imagine it.

His hand stopped. "Let's go."

With a resolute nod, I led the way to the hangar.

We walked in. I looked up at John. "We're still going with the nuke?"

He nodded.

"Okay. I can get it up here in just a second."

"We should start preflight." John walked towards the nearest Broadsword.

I followed him. My pace was slow at first, my mind elsewhere. Summoning the warhead.

I looked up. "It's on its way."

"Good." He climbed up into the Broadsword.

I floated up, settling in in front of him. "I'll do preflight."

My eyes closed.

Thrusters, check. Weapons system, check. Shields, check. Hydraulics, check. Fuel tanks, check. Everything else was in order.

I looked back at John. "O-okay, we're all good. I'll load the nuke in."

The canopy closed. A hydraulic arm came down, attaching to the Broadsword and lifting us up. There was a frame designed to hold warheads on the bottom of the fighter.

Our backs were to the opening. Outer space. I could _feel_ the Didact's ship out there; he hadn't left yet.

We must have only been out for a few minutes.

I closed my eyes and called up the nuke. "It's attached. We're good to go."

John disconnected the arms holding up the fighter. The engines roared to life. We bobbed above the floor of the hangar.

He turned us around, and off we went into the asteroid field. Both of us could feel the Didact's ship. It was close.

We had to destroy the Composer before he left.

Of course, when I said the ship was "close", it was a relative statement. He hadn't made a slipspace jump. He was, however, well outside of the asteroid belt.

John pushed the engines as hard as they would go. I could see the massive ship ahead of us. We were swiftly gaining.

It seemed to almost lumber through space, gargantuan and deliberate and dangerous.

A massive blue portal opened in front of the ship.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi again! Guess what guys? I finally got my driver's license yesterday! I'm highkey still giddy lol it was _way_ overdue**


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter Thirty Three**

Ur-Didact's ship moved steadily towards the humongous slipspace rupture. Wherever he was going, he almost certainly intended to compose humans.

"He's on the move again." John forced the engines even further.

"Does the Broadsword even _have_ slipspace shields?"

John didn't seem worried. "The Didact does."

I immediately knew what he meant to do. What we'd done aboard the Lich; we were going to get below the larger ship's shields and hope they could protect us as well.

It was a pretty solid plan, so long as we actually managed to _reach_ the Didact's ship before entering the portal.

I watched as the Forerunner ship slowly approached the portal. We were right behind it.

John pulled the engines back as we flew between the main body of the ship and some of the decorative spires. Hopefully, we would be safely within the scope of the shield.

The ship was mostly through the portal. A giant blue shield rippled above us; we were safe.

I craned my neck to look up at it. "Oh, thank god."

John turned the Broadsword, flying it down the length of the massive warship. "Can you find the Composer?"

I hesitated. The Didact would certainly be able to feel it if I entered _his__ship's_ systems.

But so many people would suffer if we couldn't destroy the Composer.

So, I choked down my fear. "I can definitely try."

John kept us carefully below the shields. The Broadsword wove around random spires and attachments protruding from the ship. If he pulled up…

No, find the Composer.

Before I even had the chance to enter the system the Didact's voice echoed through our minds.

"_You have not been composed. Such inoculation should not have been possible."_

I could _feel_ him. My first instinct was to draw as far away as I could.

But wait...I could feel him. He couldn't feel me.

I followed the faint mental trail and realized, "John, the Didact is at the Composer!"

"Where are they?"

"Near the tip of the ship. Here." I opened my mind to him. I knew about where it was, but I couldn't explain it as accurately as he needed.

A strange voice filtered through an open comm channel. "At current velocity, hostile will achieve Earth orbit in approximately four minutes."

My head shot up. The comm meant two things; we were exiting slipspace, since we could hear it at all, and we were exiting slipspace above Earth.

The Didact was going to compose Earth.

"Roger. Battle Group Dakota, close on the Forerunner vessel."

John shoved us through a doorway just before it closed. "The _Song_ must have warned them."

"Good. If they can hold him off long enough…"

John opened a comm and said, "Sierra one-one-seven to _Song of the East_. Captain Del Rio, do you read?"

A familiar, and much more welcome voice, answered. "Chief, i-it's Lasky. Is that you?"

"Affirmative, sir. Where's the Captain?" John moved us smoothly around a shifting pillar.

"FleetCom didn't take too kindly to his abandoning you on Requiem. I'm afraid I'll have to do."

I felt a grin rise to my face. "Don't worry, you're a step up."

John was more focused. "The Didact's got the Composer. We're in a Broadsword carrying a Havok-grade payload, on approach to deliver it."

"Let's see if we can grease the wheels for you. All ships! Prepare to engage!"

The comms fell silent. We dodged around another moving piece of the ship.

My eyes closed. I could feel the Didact's intensely dangerous presence ahead of us. But no, I couldn't give in to the fear he drummed up within me. There was so much more at stake.

Lasky commed. "Chief, the Battle Group's moving to intercept, but at the rate the Didact's ship is advancing, he'll reach the wire in T-minus two minutes."

"Commander, direct all your ships to the Composer," John instructed.

"Copy that, Chief."

I watched out the window as the Didact's ship flew past. It really was an imposingly massive vessel. This Broadsword was a pretty fast fighter, and we'd been flying down its length for a while.

"Orbital Defense Command, this is FleetCom. Hostile inbound. Proceed to Condition Red."

"This is Earth Orbital Defense! MAC defenses ineffective against enemy vessel. It's still approaching."

"_Song of the East_ to FleetCom!," Lasky said. "Battle Group has reached the Didact's ship."

FleetCom answered him. "Commander Lasky, you are cleared to engage."

The Composer was _close_. We were almost there. So close to it. So close to _him_.

We flew through a thin tunnel. I tensed up, watching the wingtips. They were so close to the walls of the tunnel.

At this speed, even the slightest brush against the wall would send us into a fatal crash.

We emerged into open space. There, below us, was an entry into the chamber holding the Composer.

The doors around it were sealing shut.

"No!" I cried. "We're-we're too late."

John didn't pause. "_Song of the East_, the Didact just closed off our entrance to the Composer."

Lasky was quick to offer a solution. "We could try punching a hole in that hull plating, but the _Song_ won't be able to get a clear shot with all that flak!"

My eyes rose to the massive cannons surrounding the entrance. "We can take them. Right?"

John agreed. "We'll take care of the guns"

He dodged around some of their fire and took aim. A quick volley of shots and the first cannon was down.

He continued around the circle. There was another gun a few thousand feet away.

Lasky dropped in. "Whatever you're doing's working! Clear up the approach and the _Song_ could drop in to punch a hole for you."

"We're on it, Lasky," I assured him.

I couldn't say I knew him that well, but he was a good person. He arguably saved our lives by giving us that Pelican on Requiem. I liked him.

John shot through the second cannon. Only two left.

Enemy fire singed the left wing. It barely grazed it, really. But it was too close for comfort.

So John was quick to shoot down that gun.

Only one more.

I commed Lasky. "We've got three of four down, so whatever you're doing you should probably start prepping it."

"Copy that, Clark. Weapons, prepare firing solution! We promised to get the Chief inside that ship, and I am not about to let that man down."

"Yes!" I cheered as John disabled the final cannon.

He kept us on a steady path, around the rim of the chamber. "That's the last one. _Song of the East_, you're clear."

"Roger that, Chief. You might want to back up a little."

John pushed us to the right a bit, away from the entrance.

"Main battery...fire!" Lasky ordered.

Two focused beams of light hit the entrance. An explosion engulfed us for a moment, but we weren't in range of the shockwave.

When the smoke cleared I peeked out the windshield. "They did it!"

"Clean hit," John confirmed. "We're heading to insertion."

"Acknowledged. We'll be on station if you need us."

That was comforting. Despite knowing the Didact's power, the idea of allies at our backs helped steel my resolve.

Lasky had one last thing. "Make sure you give the Didact our regards."

I grinned. "I think we can manage that."

"_Song of the East_ out."

**Then we were alone.**

John pulled up, then pointed our nose down at the jagged entrance. We shot towards it. His determination was rock solid. Honestly, it was the foundation for mine.

We flew down into a tunnel. It was dark. I couldn't see much of anything, and traveling at _these_ speeds? That put me on edge.

But John could see just fine.

Something hit the ship. I screamed as metal shrieked around us. What was _happening_?!

I tapped into John's mind. The Didact was tightening the corridor around us. He would crush us!

Everything shook, rattling my brain in my skull. One last, huge, jerk.

Then it was still. We had crashed.

"Can we still fly?" John asked even as he checked the bond to make sure I was okay.

I returned the favor, and he seemed no worse for wear. Then I frisked the Broadsword's systems. "No, it's totalled."

He popped the canopy and jumped down. "We'll proceed on foot."

There was a heavy pit in my stomach. I said nothing, floating myself down next to him.

My eyes scanned over the wrecked ship. The entire left side had been sheered by something, and the wing was gone.

That we'd survived...it was a miracle.

I turned to see John kneeling beside the warhead. He wrapped his hands around the nuke - which was _much_ smaller than the whole package - and pulled it out.

We wouldn't be able to remotely detonate it.

Yet another one-way trip for us. Would it be the last one?

He magnetized the nuke to his lower back, dwarfing the sizable warhead, and pulled out his rifle. "Let's move."

We walked together into a large hallway. It was lined with orange light - the Didact's color. I would be happy if I never saw it again for the rest of my life.

It was beautiful, yes, but now I associated it with a monster. With giant mechanical slaves. With the floating, peeling particles of Dr. Sorvad's body.

It _was_ beautiful, but it made me sick.

As we walked, John began piecing a plan together. I'd call it Plan B, but at this point it was Plan E or something. I'd lost count.

"We'll have to deploy the warhead manually," John said. "How and where?"

I took a breath. "I can't find the Composer...not an exact location. It's this way, though."

"Keep looking. We'll figure it out on the way."

At this point, I'd surpassed fear. I'd spent the past three days nearly catatonic. Now, my mind had completely blocked out all fear. It pounded uselessly against an impenetrable shield.

I couldn't bring myself to experience the terror anymore.

Not even when another orange scan passed over us. Not even when, directly after that, a pair of watchers opened fire on us from the air.

I just brought my hand up, made a fist, and let their crumpled bodies clang against the floor.

We were _going_ to stop the Didact. I would make absolutely sure of that.

Even my ankle, which still cried out every time it moved, wouldn't hold me back. This suit would support my weight, even if my own body wouldn't.

I admit, a lot of the steely resolve was being borrowed from John. It didn't make him feel any less. It was like we were sharing his emotions. I went from being aware of what he was feeling, to actually feeling what he was feeling.

A few Promethean knights and their watchers appeared. The Didact once again growled within our minds.

"_Where reason does not stop you, perhaps force can at least delay you."_

I admit, his voice in my head did cause my brave facade to falter. Remembering his unwelcome self invading, burrowing into my mind…

It was the most unsettling thing.

But I couldn't be unsettled right now.

John had already engaged the knight. So I turned my attention to a watcher.

Lucky me, it had already labelled me a target.

Before it could fire I shot my hand out and pulverized it against the far wall.

There was a doorway ahead of us. "John, there are three more- look out!"

A Promethean knight phased in right in front of John. He slammed the butt of his rifle into its neck, making something inside break. Then he unloaded his rifle into its head.

Through its datapurge, I could see another knight approaching. The doorway had opened, revealing the two remaining knights.

I shot my hand out, shoving the first one into the wall. When its comrade tried to rush us, I slung the first one sideways. They collapsed into each other.

John advanced aggressively, firing the rest of his magazine into them. Twin datapurges marked his success.

I looked through the doorway they had entered from. "It's that way."

John led the way. When we approached the only thing in the room - it looked almost like a gravlift, but wider and more sluggish - he stopped. "What is this?"

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: Hi guys! Sorry for the anticlimatic ending, but next chapter is the last one! Lotsa action and stuff lol**

**Love y'all!**


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter Thirty Four**

John and I were staring at the unfamiliar contraption. Neither of us wanted to risk a trap, but this was the way to the Composer.

I hummed, looking at it. It was certainly no gravlift. "It's not strong enough to push us up."

John peered down.

A realization hit him. "It's not supposed to. It's supposed to slow our fall."

That made a lot of sense.

John stepped into the blue light. I was right behind him.

When we landed on the ground, several hundred feet down, we were met with another dark grey and orange hallway.

I could feel something. Something that could help us. "John!"

"What is it?" He turned to face me.

"There's a portal network on the ship! Maybe I can use it to find the Composer's location."

He paused for a moment. "How will we access it?"

My mind branched out into the system. Just a tiny dip, nothing too bold. Hopefully too small for the Didact to feel.

"Okay, there's a console through the next door. I can try to access it from there."

"Prometheans?"

I shook my head. "Not that I can feel."

He walked ahead of me, just to be safe. And kept his rifle up.

The door opened to reveal a positively massive chamber. It looked almost like the core of Requiem, it was so huge.

We were standing on a very large platform that felt dwarfed compared to the vast emptiness around it. I knew the chamber was much smaller than Requiem's core, but it certainly didn't feel like it.

There, to the right, was a console. I limped up to it, mainly relying on my armor to hold my weight as my ankle continued to give out, and placed my hand over the top. My eyes closed.

I was in the systems. There was no hiding it. Even if I wasn't doing anything big, the Didact would know.

"_Even now, your valor mutates into foolishness."_

He was actively searching for me within the system. I kept up heavy mental acrobatics to avoid his detection, even as I pulled up the Composer's location.

It made the process longer, but I was _not_ about to let that monster touch my mind _ever_ again.

A portal opened to my left, at the tip of the platform. I looked up at John. "We should hurry."

My ankle was _screaming_ as I limped over to the portal. But I kept up a brave face, and hid the pain from John as best as I could. We couldn't stop, no matter what.

Everything went white and weightless as we moved through the portal.

We were in a short hallway. I staggered, ignoring the dizziness still clouding my mind, and began moving towards the door. "The Composer is really close."

The door opened before me. There was a gravlift, leading several hundred feet up a shaft.

I checked to see if John was okay - he was - and stepped into the lift. He was right behind me.

It dropped us on the top of a series of ramps. Beyond those, the Composer. It was across a massive chasm.

"We could teleport to the Composer...or take the gravity lift down there." I pointed down at the gravlift. "It'll do all the hard work for us."

I didn't want to admit it, but I was _tired_. Exhausted. If my powers were a muscle, they would be trembling. And my real muscles _were_ trembling.

John was distinctly aware of this. So he led the way down to the gravity lift.

This wasn't like the gravlifts we'd encountered before. This one would lift us up, in an arch, over to the Composer.

I reached up to grab John's hand. I could feel the Didact ahead of us, in the Composer, but he was occupied by something.

Probably nothing good.

The gravity lift picked us up and began floating us over to the Composer, like a bridge.

John looked down at me. "Once the warhead is primed, we'll need to move quickly. Can you teleport us to safety?"

"I think so." I nodded. "I-I can at least get us out of range."

"_And so...you come at last."_

The Composer began moving. Shifting its pieces around. Building…

"Oh, no." My voice was a breathy whisper.

John stared. "He's powering it up."

"He...he's going to compose even _more_ people. We have to stop him!"

John squeezed my hand.

But despite the comforting gesture, his voice was dark. Dangerous. Laced with bitter determination. "We will."

We landed on a small floating bridge near the Composer. I looked up and saw the Didact inside an orange shield, floating inside the Composer's beam.

So he, too, was immune to his invention.

I cursed. "The nuke won't kill him from inside the shield."

"Can we shut it down?" John asked.

"I think so. I need to look."

He nodded ahead. "There's a console."

I floated myself over to it. The pain in my ankle was swiftly becoming too much to take.

My mind entered the system. The Didact's interest piqued as he moved rapidly towards my mind. He crawled with terrifying speed through the system. Right for me.

No, shove that fear _down_. Focus.

I found what I needed.

My eyes opened. I withdrew from the system like it had burned me.

The Didact had been _this close_...

I focused. "There's-there's a series of beams making the shield. If I can get close to where they meet, I can take them all down."

"No. Absolutely not. Find another way."

I understood John's unwillingness. The beams converged at the shield...where the Didact was.

But I couldn't put myself before billions of humans, and trillions of other sentient beings. I could _not_ let the Didact reign over our galaxy.

I turned, running my hand down John's chest. "He's going to compose everyone, John. I have to."

"There's got to be another way," he insisted.

"We don't have the time to overload each individual beam." I looked down. "I don't even know if I can. But I _know_ I can shut them down."

His voice left absolutely no room for argument. "I'm going with you."

And I didn't argue.

I didn't want him to come with me, no. He would be incredibly close to the Didact. But, at the same time, what I said back on Ivanoff Station was true.

It would take both of us to defeat the Didact.

So, hand in hand, we lifted up into the air. The Didact turned to look at us from the corner of his eye, interested, but made no move to stop us.

His main focus was powering up the Composer.

We were there, a hundred feet from the shield. It encapsulated the Composer's beam, and the Didact, in a massive orange sphere.

I took a breath. "Okay...okay, let's do this."

John offered me strength through the bond.

I didn't have to show him my gratefulness, it radiated off of me through the bond.

My mind reached out. Found the shield's frequency.

Forerunner shields were more susceptible to my powers. Much less painful to take down, too.

I opened my eyes and looked at the Didact. He regarded me lazily, but I could feel his intense emotions. The languid expression was merely a facade.

The shield's frequency erupted from my body. I forced as much power into it as I could, battering the shield with it.

The flux traveled up the beams. With the frequency, the power traveled backwards. It shorted out the shield.

The orange barrier flickered once, twice. Then it was gone.

The Didact was _right there_.

He was...full of glee?

He turned to face us. "And yet...you still fail."

The Composer fired down onto Earth.

"No!" I screamed, staring at the beam. I began backing away from it as the influx of tortured souls began.

My strength gave out. I groaned in a pained manner and desperately tried to lift myself back up; I was falling so quickly through the air.

I managed to catch myself just before I landed on a hardlight bridge. Then I fell again. My body was lying prone and bruised on the floor.

"Tawny." John landed next to me, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. "You have to get up."

My chest was heaving with effort. I pushed myself up to my hands and knees, watching my arms shake.

I took a breath. "Prime the nuke."

"Tawny, can you-"

"I don't _know_. Maybe. Either way, we have to get rid of the…" Cold fear settled in my stomach.

The Didact wasn't in the Composer's beam anymore.

John followed my gaze up to the empty beam, his grip on his rifle tightening exponentially.

"You persist too long after your own defeat," the Didact growled from...somewhere.

John turned at his voice, trying desperately to locate it.

"Tawny?" He sounded tense.

"I-I can't find him!" My eyes were wide. "He's...I can't…"

"Come, then, Warrior. Have your resolution."

He was _right behind John_.

I scrambled desperately away from him, my limbs discovering untapped, frantic strength.

John, feeling what I felt and knowing where the Didact was, turned with his rifle up and ready to fire on the Forerunner.

With a wave of his hand, Ur-Didact sent us both flying back. I cried out as the landing hurt something in my shoulder.

John skidded to a halt, looking around. The nuke had fallen off in the attack.

It was beside me, even further from the Didact that John was.

He broke for it in a desperate sprint.

The Didact's hand shot out. Tight, suffocating bonds of ultrasound took decisive hold of both of us. I heard John's pained groaning.

I didn't even have the strength to react to the pain.

This was a disconcerting torture, the use of extreme pressure, but not particularly the most painful. Even when the pressure began trying to bend my bones...it didn't break them. Not yet.

John, however, was in much worse shape than I. The Didact could feel my exhaustion; I wasn't a threat. An annoyance, at most.

John.

The binds around him were so tight...it would have killed me instantly to be within them. It was too painful for him to bear in silence, and John _never_ expressed pain outwardly.

And yet...he couldn't stop groaning. It was almost a cry, but not quite.

The Didact's helmet slid back to reveal his deformed face. "So misguided."

Largely ignoring me, he moved John over the chasm. He was intending to force him down, down, down. He wanted to _kill_ him.

But not swiftly. No, never something so kind.

He wanted John to _suffer_.

I could feel John's struggle against the bonds. I could feel the agony locking down on his body. There was no escape from it. No escape, as the pressure threatened to shatter his bones and pulverize his muscles.

"Humanity's imprisonment...is a kindness."

The Didact's hand made a fist, tightening the hold on John even further.

A choked cry - John's agony expressed - made its way to me. That sound would haunt me forever.

"_NO_!" My power suddenly returned tenfold.

An uncontrollable pulse _boomed_ from my body, shattering the Didact's hold on me. Breaking the device in his suit that even allowed him to control the ultrasonic waves.

John was free.

But he'd already been hurt. By _the Didact_.

The massive pulse wave, which had destroyed the Didact's hold on us, regathered in front of me. A massive, rippling orb of _power_.

I looked at the Didact with fierce eyes. Even if he couldn't see my face...he knew.

I was going to kill him.

I spread my arms out, then brought them swiftly back together. Following my motions, the ultrasound wrapped around the Didact.

Now it was he who was immobilized.

I admit, I did tighten my hold on the Didact. To the same degree he'd reached with John.

To hear the pain, spilling forth from his mouth...it felt like justice.

And I would make sure he would hurt just as badly as he'd hurt John.

I forced my hands closer together. He didn't cry out, but his jaw was tight against the pain. Agonized gasps fell from between his sharpened teeth.

It was just. It was _fair_.

John was there, suddenly, shoving an active Promethean grenade into Ur-Didact's chest.

In his agony, the Forerunner couldn't react.

John kicked him off of the hardlight bridge and fell to his knees. The torture had really gotten to him.

It had almost killed him.

The grenade exploded. Only then did I release my hold on the Forerunner.

His body fell into the vortex below the Composer.

I landed, my strength beginning to fade once more.

I was barely strong enough to whisper, "John."

He was fifty feet away from me. The nuke was between us.

John crawled towards it, panting desperately. He fell once, his arms giving out.

"John!" I forced myself to my aching feet. My muscles were screaming. But it was nothing in comparison to John's pain.

He laid there, watching as I sat down beside the nuke. I picked it up in both hands, my arms trembling to hold its weight even with the help of my armor.

I stared down at it.

I didn't know if I was strong enough to protect us from this explosion.

My gaze lifted to John. He was pushing himself up on shaking arms. His breath was ragged.

I curled one arm around the nuke and crawled over to him. He forced himself up, still on his knees, and draped his arms around me. "Do it."

Could I do it?

It would _kill_ us.

Shame coated my voice. "John, I-I can't."

I turned around, laying back against him, and handed him the nuke.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

He pulled the tip of the bomb up, priming it.

I saw him look up, at Earth. At the orange beam firing down on it.

And...he was at peace.

Even if we died, there was always the Domain. Prometheans, trapped in metal bodies, didn't even get that.

He slammed the primer back into the nuke with a desperate cry.

I felt a primal urge overtake me. Suddenly, we were both floating.

John may have accepted our fates, but I didn't. We weren't dying here, and we _weren't_ dying because of the Didact.

All of the strength from moments before, when I'd broken the Didact, flooded back into my body. A desperate strength. What power it gave me now, it would certainly demand penance soon.

We were floating in the middle of a massively thick orb. It rippled on all sides, displaying the absolute chaos that the nuke had created. Everything nearby had been vaporized.

The rest of the ship was crumbling around us. The Composer had been destroyed.

"Tawny?" I turned at John's voice. He was floating, weightless, like me.

I put a hand on his arm. "Are you okay?"

"Is this you?"

I looked at the shield around us. "I...I don't know."

Whatever this mysterious power was, it was enough to protect us. That would be enough for now.

John's arms were around me, then. I could feel him shaking in exhaustion and pain and relief.

So was I.

**oOOOOo**

**Author's Note: I'm so sorry this is so late! My phone broke (I fell in a lake) and my new one doesn't come in for another week ;(**

**Anywho, you guys are about to ****_hate me_****. I have to delay the start of the fourth book in this series for a while. I'm not sure when I'll begin to post it; I have some of it written, but I got hit by some ****_nasty_**** writer's block, and then got the inspiration to rework most of the plot. Sorry :(**

**Hopefully the fourth book will be out in the next few months, and I promise I'll post the timeline for this book as soon as I finish sprucing it up. I love you guys, and thank you for being so amazing! :)**


	35. Official Timeline

Chained Timeline

**2031**

* Blue Team is assigned to the Seventh Fleet (October 2)

* The Seventh Fleet follows the Covenant to the Ark (October 2)

* A Flood-infested Covenant ship crashes on Earth and delays the Seventh Fleet's backup (October 2)

* The Sangheili join the UNSC (October 3)

* The Flood-Infested High Charity crashes on the Ark (October 3)

* The Arbiter kills Truth (October 3)

* John, Thel, and Tawny plan to activate Installation 08 to eradicate the Flood and the Gravemind (October 3)

* The remaining UNSC and Sangheili forces retreat, including Blue Team on John's orders (October 3)

* Tawny forces 343 Guilty Spark to relinquish the Index to her (October 3)

* Sergeant Major Avery Johnson dies (October 3)

* John fires Installation 08 (October 3)

* John, the Arbiter, and Tawny escape into the _Forward Unto Dawn_ (October 3)

* The _Forward Unto Dawn_ is split in two as the Ark's portal collapses (October 3)

* The Arbiter, in the front of the frigate, crashes on Earth (October 3)

* Tawny and John are sent spiralling into space (October 3)

* The Covenant is officially disbanded (October 8)

* A memorial is held to honor all those who died in the war (October 21)

* Tawny and John go into cryosleep after holding out hope of quick rescue (November 2)

* Jul 'Mdama escapes prison on Sanghelios (December 2)

**2532**

* Dadip becomes an Unggoy rights' activist (January 22)

* The New Covenant rises under Jul 'Mdama (February 28)

* ONI creates several black-ops teams to destabilize the Swords of Sanghelios (March 2)

* The SPARTAN IIIs of Alpha receive their augmentations (May 30)

* Plans for the UNSC _Infinity_ are finalized (July 12)

* Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey is arrested for war crimes and human rights violations pertaining to the SPARTAN II Program (July 22)

* The SPARTAN II Augmentations are declassified, though the program as a whole is kept under wraps (August 27)

* Dr. Halsey is made a scape-goat to shoulder all of the blame for the SPARTAN II Program (September 3)

* The mess about Intrepid Eye begins in the Gao cave systems (October 8)

* Outpost Discovery enters planning (October 18)

* Veta Lopis becomes a Ferret, along with SPARTANs Hazel A-344, Rosenda A-302 and Kevin A-282 (October 20)

* Construction on the UNSC _Infinity_ begins (November 13)

**2533**

* Outpost Discovery is complete (March 9)

* Blue Team becomes the symbol of the UNSC (March 9)

* Tawny is disguised as Blue Five in Outpost Discovery and honored with the presumed-dead Master Chief (March 9)

* Master Chief and Blue Five become martyrs (March 9)

* The happenings with the Dark Moon and the kidnapped Tuwas begins (May 14)

* The SPARTAN Branch is established, comprised of the SPARTAN IIs and the few SPARTAN IIIs that aren't doing Black Ops (August 23)

* The first SPARTAN IVs undergo experimental augmentations that kill all of them (August 28)

* Blue Team is transferred to the SPARTAN Branch (September 12)

* The SPARTAN IIIs of Beta receive their augmentations (October 19)

* SPARTAN Jane B-312 is assigned to Ferret Team with Veta and her Alphas (November 4)

**2534**

* The UNSC admits the SPARTAN II and III augmentations won't work on adults and begins tweaking them to make adult-compatible SPARTAN procedures (March 25)

* The first official batch of SPARTAN IVs undergoes augmentations and begins training (April 19)

* The Didact's cryptum begins broadcasting John and Tawny's distress signal (June 8)

* The UNSC _Song of the East_ follows Tawny and John's distress signal (June 9)

* John and Tawny awaken over Requiem (June 10) (Two Years, Seven Months, Five Days)

* The _Forward Unto Dawn_ crashes on Requiem (June 10)

* Tawny and John awaken the Didact (June 10)

* The _Song of the East_ crashes on Requiem (June 10)

* The Didact attacks the _Song of the East_ (June 10)

* The SPARTANs force the Didact to retreat (June 10)

* John and Tawny bond (June 11)

* Tawny and John meet the Librarian's imprint on Requiem and are gifted invulnerability to the Composer (June 11)

* The _Song of the East_ leaves Requiem (June 12)

* Ur-Didact leaves Requiem, with John and Tawny following on a Lich (June 12)

* Ur-Didact steals the Composer and composes Ivanoff Station (June 12)

* Ur-Didact goes to Earth, John and Tawny follow on a Broadsword (June 12)

* John detonates a HAVOK Nuke to destroy the Composer (June 12)

* Tawny passes out from the strain of protecting them from a nuclear warhead (June 12)


End file.
